Obama names Mary Schapiro to head SEC
The president-elect also picks two other financial regulators and defends the selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the swearing-in ceremony.
President-elect Barack Obama today named three more finance officials, including a new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to deal with an economy reeling through recession and questions about the effectiveness of government oversight.
Obama also defended the selection of pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest to deliver the invocation at the president-elect's swearing-in ceremony. The choice of the California pastor, who opposes abortion and gay marriage, has angered some Obama supporters.
During the campaign, Obama appeared at Warren's church with GOP candidate John McCain. He also had a relationship with the pastor, though the two disagree on some issues.
"America needs to come together, " Obama said today at a televised news conference, adding there was a need for a broad range of viewpoints including Warren's. He insisted he remains committed to being a "fierce advocate for equality" for gays and lesbians.
Obama held his fourth news conference in as many days as the transition team continued to unveil the new administration before Obama heads for a holiday vacation.
"Over the past few weeks, I've announced key members of my economic team, who are now crafting a 21st century economic recovery plan that will create 2.5 million jobs," Obama said. "But as I said throughout the campaign, what will be just as important to our long-term economic stability is a 21st century regulatory framework to ensure that a crisis like this can never happen again."
As expected, Obama chose Mary Schapiro to head the SEC. He also named Georgetown University law professor Daniel Tarullo to fill one of two vacancies on the seven-seat Federal Reserve Board, and he picked former Treasury Department official Gary Gensler to head the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which regulates the U.S. commodity futures and options market.
The appointments come as the government is trying to ease the credit crunch by pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy. The government has bailed out the financial industry with hundreds of billions of dollars and is considering a loan program to save Detroit automakers.
The Obama team has indicated it is prepared to support a new stimulus plan with hundreds of billions of additional dollars for roads and environmentally friendly jobs as well as tax cuts. That package is expected to be passed when the new Congress takes office in January, and become available for Obama's signature after the Jan. 20 inauguration.
Schapiro, a former SEC commissioner, is now head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a nongovernmental regulator for securities firms. Her selection comes after Bernard Madoff was charged in what he said was $50-billion fraud. Regulators have questioned how the alleged Ponzi scheme could have grown so large despite questions early on.
"In the last few days, the alleged scandal at Madoff Investment Securities has reminded us yet again of how badly reform is needed when it comes to the rules and regulations that govern our markets," Obama said.
Obama said the Madoff scandal showed that the government was "asleep at the switch." Americans are "feeling frustrated that there's not a lot of adult supervision."
"This is a perilous time for investors," Schapiro said. "Obviously there is much work to be done there."
michael.muskal@latimes.com
