An enjoyable article at BusinessWeekOnline–“This SEC Cop Means Business”–gives the inside story on William H. Donaldson, SEC Chairman, who took over on February 18th of this year. Another article at BusinessWeekOnline–“A Conversation with Bill Donaldson”–reports him as stating the following in regards to why he took the job at age 71:
“I ask myself why I took this job at this stage in my life. It’s because we’re at a pivotal point in the reestablishment of faith in the business and financial communities. I would like to be remembered for having an effect on that, for bringing everybody back to a sense of business integrity. There are alot of people out there, not just business people but also some of the gatekeepers — accountants, lawyers — where there has been a shift in ethics and morality, [thinking] that cutting corners a little bit is justified because “everybody else is doing it.” I hope [to] have an impact in righting that.”