SEC Nominee Confirmed but Another Is Put Off

The Senate has approved the nomination of Utah lawyer Norman S. Johnson to the Securities and Exchange Commission but withheld action on a second nominee, professor Issac Hunt Jr.

Both men were nominated by the White House in August and unanimously confirmed by the Senate Banking Committee in October. Hunt said he couldn’t explain why the Senate approved Johnson’s nomination on Tuesday while withholding his confirmation. Neither nomination was controversial.

“We’re trying to still find out,” Hunt said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “It’s ridiculous.”

A Senate Democratic aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said an unnamed Republican senator had put a hold on Hunt’s approval, but the aide could not provide a reason.

Spokesmen for the White House and the Senate Republican staff would say only that Hunt is still on the nominations calendar and that he could be brought up for a vote at any time. The SEC declined to comment.

One difference between the two nominees is that Johnson, a Republican, had a powerful sponsor, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a personal friend and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Hunt, a Democrat, didn’t have a Senate sponsor.

The two were named to help fill three vacant seats on the SEC, the agency that polices Wall Street. The SEC has been without its full five members since October 1994.