FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                    2000-139

 Paul Maco, First Director of the Office of Municipal Securities,
   Returns to Private Practice After Six and One-Half Years of
                              Service

     Washington, DC, September 27, 2000 -- Paul S. Maco, the first
Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of
Municipal Securities, announced today that he will leave the
Commission and become a partner in the Washington, DC office of
Vinson & Elkins, LLP.  Mr. Maco will concentrate on national and
international public finance, and work with the firm's white-collar
criminal practice on securities-related matters.

     The Office of Municipal Securities (OMS), created by Chairman
Arthur Levitt in 1995, provides oversight for the municipal bond
market and is responsible for policy development, coordination and
implementation of Commission initiatives to improve the market, as
well as providing technical assistance to the Division of
Enforcement, and review of Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
initiatives.  Among many initiatives, Mr. Maco coordinated activity
following the bankruptcy of Orange County, California and the
Orange County investment pools and efforts to end pay-to-play in
the municipal market.  Mr. Maco also initiated a variety of
educational programs for municipal issuers and others.

     Chairman Levitt said, "Paul has been an effective advocate on
behalf of municipal market investors and has played a significant
role in every municipal finance reform effort this Commission has
undertaken.  Of particular note is Paul's leadership and effort in
implementing the G-37 ban on pay-to-play and in the American Bar
Association's adoption of a rule to ban pay-to-play among lawyers.
Paul's efforts have had tangible and lasting impacts on the
integrity of our markets and have helped to restore investor
confidence.  I have benefited greatly from his counsel and wish him
well in his new endeavor."

     Mr. Maco said, "It has been a great honor to work with
Chairman Levitt, the Commissioners, and the staff in improving the
municipal bond market.  I am grateful for the opportunity to have
worked with the remarkably talented Commission staff and many
dedicated individuals in our municipal market.  I leave behind
highly capable colleagues in the Office of Municipal Securities who
will continue to carry out the Commission's municipal market
programs."

     Before becoming Director of OMS, Mr. Maco was Attorney Fellow
in the Office of General Counsel since joining the Commission in
March 1994.  Mr. Maco was previously a partner in a Boston law firm
practicing in project and public finance and federal securities
law.  He is a past Director of the National Association of Bond
Lawyers and Chair of its Committee on Federal Securities Law.  Mr.
Maco previously served with the Commission from 1977-1979 as an
attorney in the Division of Enforcement.

     Mr. Maco also is Adjunct Associate Professor at the Washington
College of Law of American University and a member of the faculty
of the Morin Center for Banking Law at the Boston University School
of Law.

     Mr. Maco, 48, earned his B.A. from Lehigh University, where he
was elected to Omicron Delta Kappa, and his J.D. from New York
University School of Law.

                              #  #  #