Expanding their Empire?

The SEC—the Securities and Exchange Commission—doesn’t have enough power; it wants to convince more private companies, over which it has no jurisdiction, to go public so it can regulate them, too?

To spur more companies to go public, the new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission has turned to a veteran Silicon Valley lawyer whose career has involved some of the biggest deals in history.

SEC Commissioner Jay Clayton seems to be sincere in this effort, but he won’t be around forever, and his predecessor had different regulatory ideas, and so likely will his successors.

Then there’s this:

“The real question is do small-growth companies have access to capital, and they do,” said Robin Graham, Managing Director and Head of Technology, Media and Communications at Oppenheimer & Co Inc. “It’s just in the private markets.”

There’s a hint there.