Of the many government agencies and departments, I really only follow the SEC closely. And so I ask in all sincerity ... is there anyone leading a government agency who gets the kind of "creative" criticism that now appears to come with job when you are Chairman of the SEC?

 

In April 2015 I observed here that things seem to have changed dramatically in recent years. I wrote that

Back in the olden days, the Chairman of the SEC knew heading into the job that he or she would become something of a public figure during their term (in the securities law world, at least) whose photograph might occasionally appear in newspapers and trade journals. Perhaps their policies would even be called into question by a pointed article or editorial.

 

Today, it appears, the SEC chair must be prepared for far more creative scrutiny, and in very different venues....

The subject of my post in April was a campaign by an advocacy group for SEC Chair Mary Jo White to help stomp out the menace of "dark money." This campaign included a poster ad in the Union Station Metro station near the SEC’s headquarters that portrayed Chair White as a superhero with a cape, an "MJW" logo, her own custom bat-signal, etc. 

 

 

The latest effort at "creative criticism" of the SEC Chair comes this morning from a different advocacy group that says it will drive its “Dump (Mary Jo) Truck” between Union Station, K Street and the White House from Tuesday September 15 until Thursday September 17.

What stunts are even left for the next disgruntled advocacy group to pursue? Skywriters? Taking over the television airwaves to deliver a message like the Joker in Batman? Falconers? Stay tuned!

 

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