Bush Names Acting CFTC Chairwoman

[maddezmom]

~snip~

Newsome's resignation was effective Friday; Brown-Hruska's appointment takes effect on Saturday.


Brown-Hruska, an economist, is closely associated with Wendy Gramm, a former CFTC chairwoman who later became a director of Enron Corp. Bush's nomination of Brown-Hruska and Walter Lukken, both Republicans, as CFTC commissioners stirred some controversy in the spring of 2002 during their Senate confirmation proceedings.


Brown-Hruska worked in the CFTC's Division of Economic Analysis when Gramm as chairwoman shepherded through the agency an exemption from government regulation for electronic energy trading, which benefited Enron and other companies. Before becoming a CFTC commissioner, Brown-Hruska taught finance at George Mason University outside Washington, where Gramm heads the regulatory studies program.


In recent months, the CFTC has reached settlements totaling tens of millions of dollars with an array of energy companies accused of improper trading practices, including attempted market manipulation and phony reporting of trades.


~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=693&e=1&u=/ap/20040723/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_cftc_chairwoman

[swag]

1. Ugh. And Wendy Gramm also lit the fuse on a million

derivatives time-bomb in one of her final acts as CFTC commissioner right before Clinton took office.

Crooks galore.

[struggle4progress]

2. The familiar revolving door:

"James Newsome .. is leaving as chairman nearly two years early to take a top job at the New York Mercantile Exchange, one of the commodity exchanges regulated by the agency."