Oh My … I guess it’s time for another edition of Cookie Jar Watch. As in ‘hands in the …’ It seems no sooner was the president kickin’ it with Paul Sarbanes and gettin’ d-o-w-n with his regulatory self than the White House turns around and quietly announces its intention not to enforce a key provision of the law.
The new law included a whistleblower provision granting protection to any employee of a publicly traded company who take “lawful acts” to tip off or assist regulatory agencies, law enforcement officials or “any member of Congress or any committee 
of Congress.”
If they get punished they can file a claim at the Department of Labor and get reinstated and possibly also get compensatory damages.
But then the White House announced that it plans to interpret the law as referring only to a properly constituted congressional investigation. In other words, if you know your company’s books are getting cooked and you ring up a Senator before the investigation gets underway, then you’re vulnerable. But of course it probably would be before the investigation got underway, wouldn’t it? That’s why you’re dropping a dime on them in the first place! To let someone know what’s going on so they’ll start an investigation!
A special thanks to Nathan Newman for putting me on to this.
