Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

‘”A Full Airing'”
The Sun’s editorial [‘”A Full Airing,”‘ October 26, 2006] was amusing though completely off the mark. Earlier this year the SEC’s Director of Enforcement identified to Congress a growing concern over hedge fund abuses in the marketplace.
One major area of abuse was insider trading. Britain has already stepped up investigations into exactly that aspect of their markets based on conclusions they arrived at long before American regulators woke up to this issue. So with such concerns at home and abroad, what is it you dislike about Congress voicing concerns over allegations that the SEC looks the other way when powerful and politically connected people are suspected of fraud?
The New York Times article you seem so concerned with printed excerpts of e-mails in which the staff at the SEC admitted that the “suspect of fraud” had political clout within the agency and “juice.” Such admissions, and even such considerations, in a securities fraud investigation are woefully misplaced. The fact that the attorney leading the investigation was abruptly terminated after continuing to pursue such a man of clout raises serious concerns that must be investigated if for no other reason than the full disclosure of facts.
DAVE PATCH
Topsfield, Mass.
‘You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog, So To Speak, Judge Tells Union’
Left out of the October 27 Weekend Edition article by Joseph Goldstein regarding the dispute and rulings about the orchestra size of the Broadway musical, “All Shook Up,” was the original ruling by the mutually agreed-upon panel of neutral experts [New York, “You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog, So To Speak, Judge Tells Union,” October 27, 2006]. They had ruled in favor of the musicians’ union that, based on artistic considerations, “All Shook Up” should be scored for 18 musicians, not 15. Not content to base her decision of the appeal by the League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. on procedural matters alone as the parties had originally intended, arbitrator Carol Wittenberg ruled that she could redecide the case herself, as though she were more qualified to make an artistic judgment than the panel of neutral experts. Elvis didn’t become “The King” by cutting corners and hiring smaller orchestras, cutting corners being the real reason behind the producer’s willingness to short change audiences by presenting an orchestra of 15 instead of 18. Arbitrator Wittenberg’s decision to ignore the artistic judgment of the experts has opened the door for the League to violate repeatedly the spirit of this special situations clause in our Collective Bargaining Agreement as evidenced by nine such reduced orchestra size productions in the past 18 months alone. Audiences deserve the best in live music on Broadway where artistic considerations should take precedence over saving money by hiring smaller orchestras.
LARRY RAWDON
Chairman
Broadway Theatre Committee
Rank-and-file Committee of Local 802
New York, N.Y.
Please address letters intended for publication to the Editor of The New York Sun. Letters may be sent by e-mail to editor@nysun.com, by facsimile to 212-608-7348, or post to 105 Chambers Street, New York City 10007. Please include a return address and daytime telephone number. Letters may be edited.