Merrill hire may echo Goldman move

What does Harold Ford Jr. have in common with Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin? Until now,…

What does Harold Ford Jr. have in common with Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin?
Until now, not much — but that may change after the next presidential election.
Mr. Paulson and Mr. Rubin both are former heads of New York-based Goldman Sachs & Co. who left to become Treasury secretary under Presidents Bush and Clinton, respectively.
Last week, Mr. Ford, a prominent former Democratic Congressman from Tennessee and current chair- man of the influential Democratic Leadership Council in Washington, was named vice chairman and senior policy adviser for New York-based Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. The announcement set off speculation that Mr. Ford may follow in the footsteps of Mr. Paulson and Mr. Rubin by landing a high-profile Cabinet post in the next administration — if the Democrats win, of course.
Indeed, Mr. Ford is exceptionally well positioned for such a move. He’s highly respected and popular within the party, and narrowly lost a close Senate race in Tennessee last fall.
It doesn’t hurt that Mr. Ford is only 36 years old and highly telegenic.
Although Merrill chief executive E. Stanley O’Neal won a fierce bidding battle for Mr. Ford’s services, it’s considered likely he would wish Mr. Ford well if he returned to Washington — keeping in mind the prestige Mr. Rubin and Mr. Paulson conferred on Goldman with their moves.

SEC goes to court
The Securities and Exchange Commission apparently tried to fly under the radar when it quietly filed a Supreme Court brief in the case of Tellabs Inc. v. Makor Issues and Rights Ltd. this month.
Instead it wound up on the front page of The New York Times last week, with the unflattering headline “SEC Seeks to Curtail Investor Suits.”
In the brief, the Times reported, the SEC urged the court to adopt a legal standard that would make it harder for shareholders to win fraud lawsuits against publicly traded companies and their executives. The agency under the helm of Chairman Christopher Cox is “very pro-
business and anti-investor,” said Lynn Turner, a former chief ac-countant at the commission and a critic of the brief. He is the managing director of research at San Francisco-based Glass Lewis & Co. LLC, an adviser to large shareholders.
Mr. Cox defended the Tellabs brief and the commission’s consideration of ways to protect accounting firms from large damage awards in cases brought by investors and companies. The SEC’s recent efforts were, in fact, in the best interests of investors, he argued.
They would prevent further consolidation in the accounting industry and limit “fraudulent lawsuits,” including some that “professional plaintiffs” have filed.

Be careful out there
The financial services world was shaken by the murders of three executives of a Philadelphia company by a disgruntled investor last week.
Mark Norris, Robert Norris and James Reif who all worked for Watson International were lured to an off-site location and shot by Vincent Dortch, an investor who claimed the firm had defrauded him and others of about $500,000, police said. Another executive, Patrick Sweeney, also was present and critically wounded by the gunman but managed to call the police.
After a confrontation when police arrived, Mr. Dortch shot himself.

Hot job
The days when every newly minted MBA wanted to be an investment banker is so last century, CNNMoney reported last week.
Thirteen percent of the 2006 MBA class at Harvard Business School in Boston took jobs in private equity, making it the most popular job in financial services at the school. Other top business schools also say that students are gravitating to private equity.
Careers in investment banking have become more predictable, Julie Morton, associate dean for MBA career services at the University of Chicago Graduate School for Business told the website. “But a private-equity shop has much more of an entrepreneurial flair, which appeals to students enormously,” she said.