“Democratic leaders of the House and Senate called on President Bush yesterday to fire Harvey L. Pitt as the nation’s top securities regulator, saying Pitt appears to be subverting the investor-protection law Congress passed this summer by caving in to pressure from the accounting industry in the selection of a new auditor oversight board,” writes David S. Hilzenrath and Kathleen Day in today’s Washington Post.

“White House spokesman Ari Fleischer defended Pitt, calling the Democrats’ attack ‘an old, tired cry’ and ‘a political charge that has no merit in substance.’”

“A spokeswoman for Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the agency has made no decisions about the accounting board’s membership. She added that ‘the heaviest pressure has come from Democratic lawmakers.’”

“The action by the party’s congressional leadership thrusts Pitt into the campaign spotlight a month before the midterm elections. It comes as the Democrats seek to focus voters’ attention on the economy, with its plunging stock markets and corporate scandals.”

“The Democratic leaders said Pitt’s handling of the accounting oversight board is part of a pattern of behavior “steadily eroding the credibility” of the agency he heads.”

“’At best, Chairman Pitt’s repeated insensitivity suggests an arrogant indifference to the appearance of conflict of interest,’ Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) said in a letter to Bush.”