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Bush still backs beleaguered SEC chairmanFleischer: 'No change in the White House position'
BLOUNTVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- President Bush is unwavering in his support of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Harvey Pitt, whose recommendation of a former official to head a new accounting board is being investigated, the president's spokesman said Saturday. The SEC's inspector general is reviewing the choice of former CIA and FBI Director William Webster to head the board, after it was revealed that Pitt did not tell other SEC commissioners that Webster told him he had connections to a company facing fraud allegations. The commissioners voted 3 to 2 in favor of Webster's selection. "The president continues to have confidence in Harvey Pitt," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters before Bush boarded a plane for Marietta, Georgia, on his whirlwind campaign swing on behalf of GOP candidates. (Full story)
"There is no change in the White House position," Fleischer said, adding that Bush hadn't been in contact with Pitt for awhile. The White House Friday backed the SEC's inquiry into the contentious selection of the accounting review board's chief, indicating it did not believe an independent investigation is needed at this time. Some lawmakers, including Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Maryland, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, want an independent inquiry, arguing that the SEC's investigation won't be adequate because the inspector general ultimately reports to Pitt. Sarbanes has said it is time for Pitt to step down. Pitt declined to comment on the calls for his resignation, an SEC spokesman told CNN Friday.
Webster said he told Pitt, before the vote on his selection, that he headed the auditing committee for U.S. Technologies, a company facing allegations of fraud. Webster was head of a three-person audit committee that voted to fire the company's outside auditors, who had questioned the company's practices. A senior administration official, who did not want to be identified, said that after Webster told Pitt about the issue, Pitt asked his staff to look into it. The staff determined there were not any issues of concern and therefore Pitt did not pass on the information to the other commissioners, the official said. CNN White House Correspondents Kelly Wallace and Suzanne Malveaux contributed to this report.
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