Donaldson: The Last Agenda

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One measure, passed 5-0, ''should substantially lower the cost of raising capital,'' according to an SEC commissioner; another measure, passed 3-2, is decried as ''a rush to judgment.''

William Donaldson hasn't spent his final days as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission simply attending congratulatory lunches and cleaning out his desk. On Wednesday — his next-to-last day on the job — Donaldson pushed through two agenda items in a sometimes acrimonious meeting among the five SEC commissioners.

In a 5-0 vote, the commissioners loosened the guidelines governing the sale of new securities, thus ending the so-called "quiet period."

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