December 2, 2012
Over the objection of a self-appointed investor advocate named Barbara Roper and others, Congress and the President enacted the JOBS Act which, among other things, mandated that the Commission promptly adopt a simple ministerial rule to eliminate the prohibition against general solicitation or general advertising of unregistered securities provided that all purchasers of the securities are accredited investors and to require the issuer to take reasonable steps to verify that purchasers of the securities are accredited investors.
According to the Wall Street Journal story below, it now appears that part of Chairman Schapiro's legacy might be that she wrongly refused to abide by that mandate due to a threat from Mr. Roper to cause trouble if she did so. Perhaps Chairman Schapiro should have told Ms. Roper that the Commission has to abide by the law even if Ms. Roper (or Chairman Schapiro) disagrees with it.
[Copyrighted material redacted. Author cites:
Eaglesham, Jean, and Telis Demos. "SEC Chief Delayed Rule Over Legacy Concerns." Wall Street Journal. N.p., 1 Dec. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324205404578153693968634504.html.]