Dial's nomination questioned.

Time is a fierce enemy, as Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner Joseph Dial well knows. Because the Congressional session was expected to wrap up by Nov. 10, chances of scheduling his nomination for a floor vote before adjournment were bleak.

Part of the hold up has

been opposition from Illinois Democratic Senators Carol Moseley-Braun and Richard Durbin. In a Sept. 30 letter to the Senate Agriculture Committee, the senators wrote, "We do not believe that Commissioner Joseph Dial represents the kind of leadership needed at the CFTC in this lime of great change in our financial system." But despite the senators' opposition, the agriculture committee approved the appointment. But the vote still must get past the Senate floor.

Moseley-Braun's press secretary says Dial's move against approving the CBOT grain delivery proposal is "part of the pattern of problems." Reports also have surfaced that the CBOT opposes Dial's nomination, but a CBOT spokesman says the opposition is totally from the Illinois senators. However, the CBOT has expressed concerns about the CFTC's overall strategic plan announced in September.

In a Congressional hearing in October, CBOT Chairman Patrick Arbor said the proposed five-year strategic plan by the CFTC "does not reflect a forward thinking vision, which flows directly from the Commission's narrow and outdated view of the markets on which the plan is premised."