The White House is picking a new economic policy team, but US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson does not appear to be heading for the sidelines. In a shift from widely held pre-election views, the former investment banker now looks likely to stay on a while longer as top markets cop, unless things take an unexpected turn, say sources close to him.
"Chairman Donaldson plans on staying around as long as he feels he's being effective," said SEC spokesman Matt Well.
That is the response Donaldson, 73, has been giving to questions about his future, amid widespread speculation that he would step down shortly after the November 2 election.
In a continuing second-term house-cleaning, President George W. Bush's commerce secretary and a key economic adviser have already left. Another economic adviser is expected to leave soon and Treasury Secretary John Snow may be on his way out, say Capitol Hill aides.
Plenty of corporate chiefs - many close to the Bush administration - wish Donaldson would depart after almost two years of aggressive rule-making and the toughest crackdown on financial fraud in SEC history.
But Donaldson is still in place, giving speeches on ethics and investor trust, revamping the agency and backing controversial reforms for mutual funds, hedge funds, stock market trading and shareholder rights.
Significantly, say some sources, several key rule-making decisions in which Donaldson has a big stake have lately been punted forward into 2005 by the SEC.
On Tuesday, the commission said it would seek more comment on its Regulation NMS, a package of proposed reforms in stock market trading rules. A mid-December vote by the five-member SEC had been expecte, but that now looks unlikely.
In addition, SEC officials had been saying for months they hoped to complete by year-end several proposed mutual fund reform projects aimed at halting market timing and late trading abuses seen in recent scandals.
At a conference on Friday, SEC Investment Management Director Paul Roye said of one initiative, "We'll hopefully have a resolution of this early next year."
Such delays suggest Donaldson - whose term does not formally expire until June 2007 - is not going anywhere soon.
SEC insiders often speculate about why he stays on. The multimillionaire co-founded legendary investment bank Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. He chaired the New York Stock Exchange and he was the first dean of the Yale School of Management.