Mr Cooper Group Inc (COOP)

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This is why Lillis resigned....



FUNDS CRY FOUL OVER WAMU VOTE

By KAJA WHITEHOUSE

April 24, 2008
Irate Washington Mutual shareholders are stepping up their pressure on the bank to conduct a recount of last week's board of director elections.
Letters are pouring in to WaMu Chairman Kerry Killinger and other board members, saying they suspect some of the company's directors - in particular Charles Lillis and James Stever - didn't deserve to be re-appointed last week.
At issue are rules allowing brokerage firms to cast votes in director elections on behalf of their investors. "Broker votes," as they are called, have long been criticized as a legalized form of ballot stuffing because they are typically cast automatically in favor of the board, and they can swing the results by 20 percent or more.
Stever got 57.7 percent votes in favor of his re-election, while Lillis got 59.2 percent, according to the official tally. But shareholders contesting the results say that after discounting for broker votes, Stever received closer to 49 percent of votes, while Lillis received just 48 percent - short of the majority needed for them to retain their board seats.
Among those crying foul are pension funds from California, Florida, New Jersey and North Carolina, including the granddaddy of all pension funds, the $255 billion California Public Employees Retirement System and the $80 billion New Jersey Division of Investment.
Several union pension funds are leading the charge, and the Council of Institutional Investors, which represents 140 public, private and union pension funds, is also drafting a letter on this issue, to be released today.
"I am writing to request that you release detailed voting results from the director elections and that you demand the resignation of any directors that did not receive majority votes," reads a letter from North Carolina State Treasurer Richard Moore, who oversees $77 billion in pension money, which calls out Lillis and Stever.
Officials at WaMu didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shareholders sending letters to WaMu are also stepping up pressure on the Securities and Exchange Commission, after the agency pushed back plans proposed by NYSE Euronext to abolish broker votes starting in January.
A similar fight was waged last year at CVS Caremark Corp., and led to the resignation of director Roger L. Headrick several months after he was officially re-appointed to the board.