S&L; Regulator Should Go--Now

M. Danny Wall continues to resist leaving his job as the top federal savings and loan regulator. This shows an insensitivity to public responsibility about on a par with his inept administration of the industry. Clearly the time has come for President Bush to usher him to his office door.

Wall has justified remaining in office on the grounds that he is innocent and wants an opportunity to refute evidence to the contrary. He may well be right in arguing that there is no evidence of criminal activity. But the basic issue is competence. The collapse of the thrift industry and his own failure to intervene promptly in the $2-billion Lincoln Savings & Loan scandal bear witness to that lack of competence.

Many others bear responsibility, too, of course. The investigations are only beginning, both on issues of criminal activity within the industry and on issues of ethics, including the eyebrow-raising intervention of the five U.S. senators who apparently sought regulation-bending on behalf of Lincoln.

But perhaps the only thing that’s totally clear at this point is that Americans will be paying something on the order of $200 billion for the bailout over the next few years, a burden that translates into thousands of dollars for each taxpayer.