The importance of independence

When Commissioner Al Sommer, a Democrat, was sworn as SEC Chair, he joined a Commission that understood the need to quickly re-establish the reputation of the SEC as the most staunchly independent agency in the federal government and make it clear that politics had no place in its hallways. The SEC makes its decisions based on an impartial assessment of the law and the facts and what it believes will further its mission. The staff and Commission have a long and proud history of standing up to outside pressures of all kinds that have challenged its independence. The Chairs who have come before have held firmly to this independence, and so have the thousands of members of the SEC staff who worked with them. To the author's mind, the SEC achieves the best results and best fulfills its mission, when it uses its expertise, acts independently, and defends that independence against all comers.