AL SOMMER'S "REMARKS AT MARCH 8, 1996 ASSOCIATION OF SEC ALUMNI ANNUAL MEETING"
A. A. ("Al") Sommer, Jr., served as Commissioner of the SEC from 1973 to 1976 [sic]. Mr. Sommer died on January 14, 2002.
THIS IS A MEMORIAL WEBSITE. THE QUOTED SECTION IS TAKEN VERBATIM from The Securities and Exchange Commission Historical Society AS INDICATED ABOVE. FOR A COMPLETE ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT THE LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE.

pp. 1 and 2
"It is conventional on occasions like this to say that you do not deserve the award being given you. Ordinarily I glory in not being conventional, but on this occasion I am going to be. I truly feel that there are others far more deserving of this award than I. That feeling is reinforced when I consider the merits of the three men who received the award before me -- Stan Sporkin, Irv Pollack, and Kevin Duffy. To paraphrase a one-time vice-presidential candidate, I'm not Stan Sporkin, I'm not Irv Pollack, I'm not Kevin Duffy.

"Those feelings of unworthiness are reinforced when I contemplate the achievements of the outstanding person after whom the award is named, Justice and one-time SEC Chairman William O. Douglas.

"Many of those who are more deserving of this award than I are in the audience tonight. I would like to single out two of them and I focus on them because they are leaving the Commission's staff after extraordinarily distinguished careers.

"First, there is Bob Davenport. Bob has served on the Commission's staff for 38 years, 22 of those as Denver Regional Administrator. In that time, Bob has been, as someone said at his farewell reception at the Commission, a true role model. His enthusiasm, his dedication and his commitment have never for an instant wavered. During his time as Regional Administrator he fought hard to stop the penny stock frauds, he sent Meyer Blinder to jail, he did a remarkable job of protecting the investors in his region from some of the most egregious frauds.

"Then there is Linda Quinn. Linda served the Commission for 16 years, 10 of which she was Director of the Division of Corporation Finance. During her time she put the finishing touches on the integration of the 1933 and 1934 Acts, she fashioned innovative responses to some of the most challenging disclosure problems one can imagine, she adapted the disclosure system to the incredible demands posed by new ways of trading, new financial instruments and novelties of every sort. In addition, she has been a most effective representative of the SEC in many of the activities of the International Organization of Securities Commissioners.

"It's these people, Bob and Linda and their likes, who really deserve the Douglas Award. But I assure you that my humility does not extend to turning it down. I welcome it, I treasure it, I am flattered by it, and I accept it most gratefully.

"I have often said, only half facetiously, that I came to the Commission so that I could become an alumnus. During my days in practice in Cleveland I noticed that there was a special bond, a feeling of camaraderie, a tie that bound together people who had served the Commission. I frankly envied them the warm, close relationship that stemmed from the shared experience they had of working for the Commissio. After serving at the Commission, I now understand more fully the nature of that special bond. It is friendship, it is the shared commitment to public service and the public interest, it is an abiding respect for the traditions of the institution, and it is a profound admiration for those who have gone before and what they have achieved.

"And I learned first hand when a person has served at the Commission he or she is never the same. Such a person is never again indifferent to the public interest dimensions of a problem, even when engaged in vigorous combat with the agency after leaving. There continues to be an abiding concern with the fundamental concepts of fairness, decency, and honesty. This goes beyond what I have always called the "pronoun problem". When a person joins the agency it takes about six months to stop calling the SEC "they", and after leaving the agency it takes another six months to quit calling the Commission "us", a misappelation that is sometimes jarring to clients! I told Ray Garrett once, that for us coming out of private practice, I thought nothing was more appropriate than the saying of Pogo, 'We have met the enemy and it is us!'

"Everyone who works at the Commission becomes by that experience something more than he or she was when he or she got the first government check. Perhaps the greatest example of change overtaking someone was the first Chairman, Joseph P. Kennedy. Kennedy entered upon the job of Chairman with a reputation as a wheeler-dealer, a manipulator, an epitomization of all that the SEC was created to destroy. But in his time at the Commission, he established himself as an effective, diligent, creative regulator and leader and he left an indelibly honorable mark on the institution. I recall when Bill Casey's nomination came before the Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy said it was the worst nomination as Chairman of the Commission since that of his father! In both cases, the men nominated exceeded everyone's expectations and added to this great history.

"During a recent vacation trip I read Joel Seligman's second edition of his history of the Commission, The Transformation of Wall Street. This reminded me again of the fact that we are all heirs of a great and glorious tradition that began in 1934. As I read the history one great name after another leapt out of the pages: Abe Fortas, William Douglas, Jerome Frank, James Landis, Lou Loss, Milt Krott, Stan Sporkin, Irv Pollack, Phil Loomis, Ray Garrett, John Burns, Manny Cohen, Bill Cary, Milt Freeman, Kevin Duffy -- and this is only a sampling of those who contributed to the noble history of the Commission. Those of us who were at "SEC Speaks" today know that this tradition is in good hands with the new generation of Commission staff."

...

* Read the entire speech

back