The release of the news that Harvey Pitt had resigned as head of the Security and Exchange Commission was engineered with astonishing perfection. The Bush administration rarely does things with such flawlessness, but here, they triumphed. While the country was busy watching election returns, Pitt's resignation was put out at 9:01 pm EST, and apart from finance journalists, no one noticed.
That Harvey Pitt had to go was never questioned, even by the President. Charged with finding someone to fix the independent auditor mess, Pitt chose former FBI head Webster. Webster said he shouldn't as he was involved in a company that had trouble with an auditor. Pitt kept this from the White House. That'll get you sacked in any organization.
Pitt also was the symbol for an ineffective policing of Wall Street, and the one face the Democrats could have put to the implosion of the stockmarket. "GOP fiddles while your 401(k) burns, and Harvey Pitt is letting it happen," the ad should have run. While he wasn't a total incompetent, he won't be missed.
However, the timing of his departure kept him and the stock market out of play. Even Dick Gephardt would have had to pay attention to the issue if Pitt had left in October.
The President was not served well by Mr. Pitt, but whoever orchestrated his election night departure deserves something extra nice at Christmas.