Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Jo White was attacked for slow and weak investor protection rulemaking by several consumer advocates in e-mails and conversations with Financial Advisor magazine.

“Investor protection under Chair White has been virtually nonexistent. Her positions in the crowdfunding and private offering rulemakings and her false promises regarding the fiduciary duty reflect a strong anti-investor bent,” said SEC Investor Advisory Committee member and University of Mississippi Law Professor Mercer Bullard on Tuesday.

Echoing his concerns, another Committee member, Consumer Federation of America Director of Investor Protection Barbara Roper, said all of the JOBS Act rulemaking has been appalling for investor protection.

When told of the criticism, SEC press spokesman John Nester declined immediate comment.

Roper said White came into the chairmanship last year after heading up the litigation of a prominent New York corporate law firm with a major liability for the SEC post: no policy background when very complicated policy issues on asset backed securities and technology were coming to the foreground.

With that void, Roper said White needed to surround herself with a staff clearly committed to investor protection -- and she didn’t.

Another factor contributing to the weakness in investor momentum under White, said the Consumer Federation of America policy wonk, was the watershed  U.S. Court of Appeals decision against the SEC proxy access rule for a lack of cost-benefit research.

Roper said this 2011 decision continues to make the SEC gun shy in rulemaking out of fear of more losses and that dissents from Republican members of the SEC on rules appear to be written in very precise detail so they could be used in in court challenges by rule opponents.

“It is amazing six years after the economic collapse, the financial industry influence is as strong as it is,” said Roper.

Former North American Securities Administrators Association President Denise Crawford opined “regulatory protections are not Chairman White’s strong suit.”

Another prominent consumer voice who refused to be identified literally shook his head when talking about disappointment over White’s investor protection track record.