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Enron Mail |
Chris:
I would like to be kept up to date on who the potential candidates are. We are planning on inviting Newsome to speak at our ISDA conference in March. Thanks, Mark Chris Long@ENRON 01/08/2001 09:14 AM To: Mark E Haedicke/HOU/ECT@ECT, Mark Taylor/HOU/ECT@ECT, Richard Shapiro/NA/Enron@Enron, Linda Robertson/NA/Enron@ENRON, Cynthia Sandherr/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Lisa Yoho/NA/Enron@Enron, Tom Briggs/NA/Enron@Enron cc: Allison Navin/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Ginger Dernehl/NA/Enron@Enron Subject: As the Bush transition moves forward, we need to monitor (or perhaps try to influence) the selection of the new CFTC Chair/Commissioners. As noted below, Jim Newsome has been selected as Acting Chair. I mentioned this to Ken Raisler and Stacy Carey. Everyone agrees that Newsome is a known quantity, though he may not be a superstar in the mold of Bill Ranier. Ken said Newsome knows our issues and is favorable to a "free market" approach to energy and metals. However, there is some concern about his ability to reign in the CFTC staff. Newsome is the favorite currently for the position with boosters in Senators Lott and Cochran and his college roommate Rep. Jerry Moran (R-KS). However, it is still early in the game and unknown Chair candidates could still be out there (including officials passed over for more high profile positions). If Newsome is nominated as the Chair, an additional Commissioner (a Republican) position opens and will be named by Speaker Denny Hastert. Hastert is from the suburbs and the assumption is that he the Chicago exchanges may influence the appointment. Stacy Carey is poking around to determine what Chicago exchanges are thinking. One name that has been mentioned often is retired Congressman Tom Ewing who has expressed interest in a Commission seat, but not the Chair (Ewing is supportive of our issues). David Spears is also likely to leave, but no date has been announced. This is also a Republican seat. The Democrats Barbara Holum and Tom Erickson are likely to stick around until their terms expire. We can try to float names of persons we would like to see either Chair or join the Commission. Also, we have learned that Wendy Gramm has list of names she may be shopping around for CFTC and SEC - it would be good the see who Gramm is proposing. Please advise how you want to proceed in either reviewing or suggesting the appointees. Thanks - Chris No. 05 Monday January 8, 2001 Page A-4 ISSN 1523-567X Regulation, Law & Economics Futures Trading Newsome Elected Acting Chair; Favors 'Free-Market' Philosophy The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has elected Jim Newsome as its acting chairman, the agency announced Jan. 5. Newsome, a Republican, will assume the role played by outgoing Chairman William Rainer, who announced last month that he would resign his position effective Jan. 19. Newsome, a native of Plant City, Fla., was nominated to the CFTC in July 1998 and sworn in Aug. 10 that same year. Immediately before joining the commission, Newsome was chairman of the Mississippi Agribusiness Council and served as executive vice president of the Mississippi Cattlemen's Association and Mississippi Beef Council. Levels of Oversight Newsome, who could not be reached for comment Jan. 5, told BNA last month that he favors a "free-market philosophy," something he said helped him work productively with the like-minded Rainer, who was a Democrat. He praised in particular the CFTC's new regulatory framework that was approved by the commission last fall. The rulemaking largely was withdrawn after Congress essentially codified the initiative in the Commodity Futures Modernization Act passed in December. The new tiered-system creates different levels of oversight meant to differentiate between different levels of investor sophistication. "We've tried to develop a much more flexible regulatory scheme that allows for more competition for futures markets participants," Newsome said. Copyright , 2001 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington D.C.
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