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The Securities and Exchange Commission celebrated its 75th anniversary with lavish gala largely paid for by law firms and lobbyists.
From the Politico
By all accounts, it was an excellent evening. For the 75th anniversary of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC’s Historical Society — an independent, nonprofit organization — threw a lavish dinner for 950 at the National Building Museum.
Critics, though, might gawk at the spectacle of a commission that’s been criticized as too close to industry celebrating itself in a dinner paid for largely by firms that have business before it.
Earlier this year, fraud investigator Harry Markopolos called the SEC “both a captive regulator and a failed regulator” for its failure to detect fraud by Bernard Madoff, who had been in the close orbit of the SEC before being unmasked as possibly the most corrupt money manager of all time.
But none of that, apparently, was on the minds of the industry attendees and SEC staffers who began their meal Thursday night with fennel-spiced prawns and five-citrus salad and heard tributes to current and past SEC chairmen and a speech by the current top regulator, Mary Schapiro.
“Her remarks were clearly intended to convey that despite the media hits the SEC has taken over Madoff, that the SEC is here to stay and we are as important as ever,” said one attendee. “It was like Braveheart’s speech before going into battle.”
A giant screen projected images of SEC luminaries over the diners, who savored main course selections that included port wine and orange-glazed rock Cornish game hen. Each attendee was given a hardcover, elaborately produced book commemorating the occasion with photos from the commission’s history, including Joseph P. Kennedy giving a press conference in 1934 and the all-female 1939 SEC bowling league.
The dinner was financed by donors to the Historical Society who purchased tables ranging in price from $3,500 to $7,500 and placed notices in the bound book congratulating the commission on its achievements. (“Each new day presents an opportunity to celebrate,” read the ad from Fidelity Investments. “A blue ribbon achievement? It certainly is!” gushed a full-page ad by the accounting firm Ernst & Young.)
Tickets cost $250 per person but $50 for SEC staffers or government employees.
“This was not an SEC-sponsored event,” the SEC said in a statement to POLITICO. “The event was organized by the nonprofit SEC Historical Society, a 501(c)(3) organization which is not in any way affiliated with the SEC. The SEC staff who attended the event all paid their own way.”
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About the author
Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.
2 Comments for Lobbyists Help SEC Celebrate
Seriously, is there anybody left who doesn’t understand that Big Business and Wall Street are running America – and have been doing so for the better part of the last 30 years?
And does anybody still resist the idea that ALL politicians, regardless of their professed party or philosophy, are in on it?
“The Securities and Exchange Commission celebrated its 75th anniversary with lavish gala largely paid for by law firms and lobbyists.”
“Tickets cost $250 per person but $50 for SEC staffers or government employees.”
Please!
Who could think of a better way to spend money? Do ya think some of the “government employee” will attend? Will that ticket be paid by tax payers? Just asking.