The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board sets and enforces standards for the accountants who audit corporations' books. Congress could have given this task to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Or it could have chartered a private overseer, on the model of the New York Stock Exchange. Or it could have set up an entirely new regulatory agency, one similar to the SEC but separate from it.

Peekaboo, however, breaks new ground. Unlike the New York Stock Exchange, it is a creation of Congress and wields powers characteristic of a government agency. Unlike the SEC, it is nominally a private, nonprofit corporation. Moreover, its five board members are not appointed by the president and cannot be removed by him. Rather, the SEC appoints them. Only the SEC can remove them, and even then only for cause (that is, for misconduct rather than, say, over a policy disagreement).

So the board is something new: an independent regulatory body nested within, and directly accountable to, another independent regulatory body. "Never before in American history," Kavanaugh wrote, "has there been an independent agency whose heads are appointed by and removable only for cause by another independent agency."

kruker wrote:The Peculiar Problem of Peekaboo

Rauch article.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board sets and enforces standards for the accountants who audit corporations' books. Congress could have given this task to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Or it could have chartered a private overseer, on the model of the New York Stock Exchange. Or it could have set up an entirely new regulatory agency, one similar to the SEC but separate from it.

Peekaboo, however, breaks new ground. Unlike the New York Stock Exchange, it is a creation of Congress and wields powers characteristic of a government agency. Unlike the SEC, it is nominally a private, nonprofit corporation. Moreover, its five board members are not appointed by the president and cannot be removed by him. Rather, the SEC appoints them. Only the SEC can remove them, and even then only for cause (that is, for misconduct rather than, say, over a policy disagreement).

So the board is something new: an independent regulatory body nested within, and directly accountable to, another independent regulatory body. "Never before in American history," Kavanaugh wrote, "has there been an independent agency whose heads are appointed by and removable only for cause by another independent agency."

My opinion is no better than yours, but here it is: In creating a regulator accountable only to another regulator, Congress never showed a need to abandon Mr. Madison's constitutional scheme. Nor has evidence of any such need arisen. Indeed, no one disputes that Peekaboo could perform its duties effectively with presidential appointees on its board, just as the SEC and all the other independent regulatory agencies do.

The principle of keeping power accountable to elected officials sits at the very heart of the Constitution. It is too important to be weakened without a better justification than the government, in defending Peekaboo, has provided.

The BNP has won its first seat on an English county council with a victory in Lancashire, where Labour's 20-year-rule has ended.

The far-right party took the Padiham and Burnley West ward, its principal stronghold in the north-west, where it already has four district councillors.

But the BNP took second place to the Lib Dems in the local toppling of senior Labour figures, who previously held all Burnley's seats. Four were knocked out by the Lib Dems, including two council cabinet members.

The BNP's victory in the ward, with 30% of the vote, buoyed local activists' hopes of getting the party's leader, Nick Griffin, elected as an MEP on Sunday night. He needs around 8% of the vote to take a north-west seat, against the 6.4% he polled in 2004.

Protesters have briefly stopped BNP leader Nick Griffin from entering the building in Manchester where results of European elections are being announced.

Mr Griffin is standing for the European Parliament in the North West region and hopes to become the BNP's first elected representative in Brussels.

As he arrived at the count, his car was surrounded by noisy protesters and it drove off without him getting out.

Mr Griffin later entered the building through the back entrance.

The BNP leader was accompanied by a number of minders.

There is a substantial police presence outside Manchester Town Hall, where the votes for the region are being counted.

Police said one man was arrested in scuffles when Mr Griffin tried to get into the building through the front entrance and his car was surrounded by a small crowd of noisy protesters.

"Mr Griffin has been driven away to avoid the protests that they have set up at both entrances," a council spokesman said.

"Mr Griffin, as one of the MEP candidates, will have to gain access to the town hall at some point for the count," it added.

The BBC's Jeremy Vine says the predicted share of the vote is 27% for the Conservatives, 17% for UKIP, 16% for Labour, 14% for the Lib Dems, 9% for the Greens, 6% for the BNP and 8% for others. However, results are not in yet for the South East - the most populous region.

jerseyhoya wrote:BNP just won a seat in Yorkshire. This appears to be pretty universally accepted as a bad thing.

TenuredVulture wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:BNP just won a seat in Yorkshire. This appears to be pretty universally accepted as a bad thing.

They're fascists.

jerseyhoya wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:BNP just won a seat in Yorkshire. This appears to be pretty universally accepted as a bad thing.

They're fascists.

Well yeah. It's just on BBC they had a parade of members of parliament and other political bigwigs on and they were all more or less saying the same two things: 1) that it was everyone's fault that the BNP was succeeding because people have lost trust in the main parties and 2) it needs to be exposed what the BNP actually believes in.

I was going for understatement, which doesn't work when I'm the only person watching this.