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American Morning

Minding Your Business: Goodbye, Mr. Pitt

Aired November 06, 2002 - 08:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Outside the election arena, there is another major development in Washington, and it could affect our pocketbooks. Reporting on that from New York is Andy Serwer, minding your business.
Good morning, Andy.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Paula.

A busy day for you.

ZAHN: Very busy.

SERWER: Right.

ZAHN: It's sort of the days without end. You've been there.

SERWER: That's right. Yes, I have.

ZAHN: You've pulled all nighters before.

SERWER: I sure have.

Yes, this was sort of overshadowed. A surprise last night, Paula. Securities and Exchange Chairman Harvey Pitt stepping down. That he was leaving is not so much a surprise, it was the timing. It sort of blew everyone's mind. Some people saying that the White House liked it because it was overshadowed with the election. Other people suggesting that the president didn't care, he just wanted him out of the way. I sort of buy that explanation.

The last time I spoke to Harvey Pitt, Paula, he was adamant about staying. But that was before the William Webster flap that sort of pushed him over the edge last week, and I think that he lost the confidence of Democrats, Republicans and the White House. If you look at the litany of trouble this guy had gotten into, remember, he met with CEOs who were under investigation, he asked for a raise, he wanted to be promoted to a cabinet position, he let Elliot Spitzer take the lead investigating corporate wrongdoing and then, of course, the Webster flap.

I spoke to a prominent Wall Street CEO and he said Harvey Pitt's heart was never in this job. He was not a reformer who was brought in. He sort of has a laissez faire mentality and now he is gone. And the questions now, Paula, are who will succeed him, number one, and number two, will William Webster, the new head of the accounting oversight board, will he also be a victim? Will he also have to step down? And there is thinking that he probably will go over the next couple days.

And as far as succeeding Pitt, names like Gary Lynch and Stanley Sporkin (ph) are being tossed around.

So a real sort of surprise in terms of the timing. But the fact that he's actually leaving is not really surprising anyone on Wall Street.

ZAHN: Was Rudy Giuliani on your list?

SERWER: Rudy Giuliani is on the list. He's on the long list but he's not on the short list. I think there is some speculation about him taking the position. My understanding is that he said last night he was not interested in that job or any political appointment at this time. And so I think that you may see perhaps one of the Republican members of the SEC step up and be an interim chairman. I think the president does not want to get bogged down in this issue right now. So we'll see this plan pan out over the next couple of days.

ZAHN: So a quick yes or no, I can't tell from what you're saying if you think this was a conspiratorial move on the Republicans' part to announce his resignation in the middle of our dramatic coverage last night.

SERWER: I say no. And the reason why, I think the president just said I don't really care about this, let's just get it done with. And the fact that it happened on election night, I don't think they were trying to have it overshadowed. I just think they just wanted it done.

ZAHN: Because guess what? You're still talking about it this morning.

Andy Serwer, thanks.

SERWER: That's right.

ZAHN: See you a little bit later on.

SERWER: OK.

ZAHN: Still to come, we're going to go live to the White House, where the president can claim a mandate.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 6, 2002 - 08:25   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Outside the election arena, there is another major development in Washington, and it could affect our pocketbooks. Reporting on that from New York is Andy Serwer, minding your business.
Good morning, Andy.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Paula.

A busy day for you.

ZAHN: Very busy.

SERWER: Right.

ZAHN: It's sort of the days without end. You've been there.

SERWER: That's right. Yes, I have.

ZAHN: You've pulled all nighters before.

SERWER: I sure have.

Yes, this was sort of overshadowed. A surprise last night, Paula. Securities and Exchange Chairman Harvey Pitt stepping down. That he was leaving is not so much a surprise, it was the timing. It sort of blew everyone's mind. Some people saying that the White House liked it because it was overshadowed with the election. Other people suggesting that the president didn't care, he just wanted him out of the way. I sort of buy that explanation.

The last time I spoke to Harvey Pitt, Paula, he was adamant about staying. But that was before the William Webster flap that sort of pushed him over the edge last week, and I think that he lost the confidence of Democrats, Republicans and the White House. If you look at the litany of trouble this guy had gotten into, remember, he met with CEOs who were under investigation, he asked for a raise, he wanted to be promoted to a cabinet position, he let Elliot Spitzer take the lead investigating corporate wrongdoing and then, of course, the Webster flap.

I spoke to a prominent Wall Street CEO and he said Harvey Pitt's heart was never in this job. He was not a reformer who was brought in. He sort of has a laissez faire mentality and now he is gone. And the questions now, Paula, are who will succeed him, number one, and number two, will William Webster, the new head of the accounting oversight board, will he also be a victim? Will he also have to step down? And there is thinking that he probably will go over the next couple days.

And as far as succeeding Pitt, names like Gary Lynch and Stanley Sporkin (ph) are being tossed around.

So a real sort of surprise in terms of the timing. But the fact that he's actually leaving is not really surprising anyone on Wall Street.

ZAHN: Was Rudy Giuliani on your list?

SERWER: Rudy Giuliani is on the list. He's on the long list but he's not on the short list. I think there is some speculation about him taking the position. My understanding is that he said last night he was not interested in that job or any political appointment at this time. And so I think that you may see perhaps one of the Republican members of the SEC step up and be an interim chairman. I think the president does not want to get bogged down in this issue right now. So we'll see this plan pan out over the next couple of days.

ZAHN: So a quick yes or no, I can't tell from what you're saying if you think this was a conspiratorial move on the Republicans' part to announce his resignation in the middle of our dramatic coverage last night.

SERWER: I say no. And the reason why, I think the president just said I don't really care about this, let's just get it done with. And the fact that it happened on election night, I don't think they were trying to have it overshadowed. I just think they just wanted it done.

ZAHN: Because guess what? You're still talking about it this morning.

Andy Serwer, thanks.

SERWER: That's right.

ZAHN: See you a little bit later on.

SERWER: OK.

ZAHN: Still to come, we're going to go live to the White House, where the president can claim a mandate.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com