President Donald Trump has finally nominated the fifth Securities and Exchanges Commissioner (SEC), the publicly little known Allison Herren Lee (pictured above), the White House said.
She is expected to quickly get the approval of Congress with Lee to fill the open democratic position and in many ways to potentially have the swing vote on many issues.
She started her career at the Colorado Supreme Court all the way back in 1997. She then spent seven years in private practice at Sherman & Howard L.L.C. until 2005 when she became a Senior Counsel in the Complex Financial Instruments Unit of the Enforcement Division of SEC.
She spent 13 years at the SEC, until she left in January 2018 to work as Corporate Governance Consultant at Congress Park Consulting which in its about page says:
“With the demise of Merrill Lynch (saved from bankruptcy by Bank of America) and the failure of almost every major investment banking firm and many major banks, it was apparent that there was a better way forward for clients than being tied to major financial institutions whose priorities were clearly not aligned with their clients’ best interests. This was the catalyst that inspired Congress Park Capital.”
What little else is publicly known about her is the few tweets she has made. Clearly strongly liberal and democrat, but mainly only on social issues as far as the tweets tell.
https://twitter.com/allisonherren/status/142459964299030529
Finally, she is a contributing author to a book which is entirely about disclosure. Whether there’s something in that book that attracted Trump or his advisors, isn’t clear, with it difficult to read where exactly she stands on more substantive issues, such as where to balance promoting capital formation and investors’ protection.
One potential revealing factor might be that she joined Twitter in 2009. That would make her an early adopter as Twitter was founded in 2006. So although she appears to have spent all her life in law halls, she perhaps is maybe a little bit of a techie.
Her choice to work at Congress Park Capital might also suggest she doesn’t like banks. You add those two together and who knows, maybe she’s even a bitcoiner.
That would make her best friends with Hester Peirce and quite a formidable team when Elad Roisman is added, but the latter two are Republican SEC commissioners.
It isn’t clear however whether Lee is a Democrat mainly for the social liberal values, or whether she shares Democrats’ economic principles as well where it comes to free markets. In other words, it isn’t clear whether she’s perhaps a Liberal Democrat that values both social and market liberalism in most instances.
What is clear is that this woman will have immense power over the American economy and thus the global economy for she will be the decisive vote on many issues.
Specifically as far as this space is concerned, the bitcoin or crypto ETF is a major one. Roisman and Peirce are currently in favor. Former lawyer to elite bankers, Jay Clayton, is against. The other democrat, Robert Jackson, usually sides with Clayton.
Meaning Lee will be the decisive vote when the issue is brought up again, as it will.
In addition there have been complaints by the tech industry about burdensome disclosure requirements that has contributed to Initial Public Offerings falling to very low levels.
Finally, as a Democrat it isn’t clear what she thinks about these restrictions and prohibitions of ordinary individuals from participating in investing in start-ups and thus from potentially reaping huge rewards as the rich do under the privilege and under the favorable discrimination of the law.
The free market wing of the right and the equal opportunities wing of the left could form a coalition there to overturn this century old injustice that by law forcefully discriminates against all, in favor of the rich and bankers.
Meaning we will either be hugely disappointed with Lee if she turns out to be yet another Jackson that doesn’t see much nuances in changing times, or we will be hugely surprised and perhaps will witness a changing wind in the United States.
Which is which, time will tell, but never has a commissioner been more important in living memory, or her views on a raft of issues that may significantly affect the economy and might perhaps even transform it entirely.
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