Washington D.C. - Outraged investors and activists today scolded the Securities and Exchange Commission for its continued dilution of Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, chiding commissioners for heeding corporate lobbyists instead of the lessons of Enron.

Activists inflated a giant corporate pig in front of the SEC to demonstrate the influence corporate lobbyists continue to wield over the Commission. Investors and public interest groups demanded that commissioners rethink their rules on auditor independence and lawyers and promote greater corporate disclosure.

"It appears that the accountants and lawyers who stood by as their clients cooked the books are now writing the recipes for the next course of financial fraud and abuse," said Charlie Cray, director of Citizen Works' Campaign for Corporate Reform. "Instead of feeding these greedy pigs, the SEC should be frying their bacon."

Protestors lambasted Harvey Pitt for sticking around as chairman of the SEC, almost three months after he "resigned."

"It is preposterous that Harvey Pitt remains at the helm of the SEC continuing to undermine the reforms Congress passed in the summer," said Arianna Huffington, author of Pigs at the Trough. "Once again, we have clear evidence of the political establishment giving the finger to the American people."

In conjunction with the day's protest, The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) issued a detailed analysis of how the SEC implemented the key audit provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. "The Commission has now largely fulfilled its implementation responsibilities," the CFA reported. "In doing so, it has bowed to industry pressure, seriously undermining key reforms enacted by Congress and failing to adopt much needed strengthening amendments."

Meanwhile, Brent Blackwelder, executive director of Friends of the Earth, urged the SEC to think big and start regulating companies for a broader public good, instead of just narrowly (and inadequately) trying to protect investors. By requiring companies to disclose their environmental and social track records, Blackwelder argued, the SEC would encourage corporations to be accountable for everything they do, a crucial step toward restoring trust in corporate America.

The Gray Panthers criticized the SEC for going easy on WorldCom and not levying any fines to punish the company for its massive fraud.

"WorldCom has been accused of the largest accounting fraud in U.S. history," said Will Thomas, director of the Gray Panthers' Corporate Accountability Project. "But the SEC did almost nothing when it came to dealing with this company. The punishment should fit the crime, but the SEC let WorldCom off the hook."

Deborah Pastor, vice president of eRaider.com (a leading shareholder activist web site) criticized the SEC for repeatedly letting down investors and urged the commission to strengthen corporate democracy by giving shareholders more power in choosing directors.

"As long as the board of directors is picked by management, there can be no truly independent directors," Pastor said.