While Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Paul Atkins voted in favor of the SEC seeking additional comment on its governance rule, he is still opposed to the rule. "I assure you that my vote in favor of the comment request does not signal a change of heart on my part," said Atkins, speaking at the Mutual Fund Directors Forum's roundtable with members of the SEC staff.

Atkins believes the Commission needs to start over with the rule. "The Court of Appeals vacated the two contested provisions of the rule, so the fund governance slate is wiped clean and we are starting afresh. Tabula rasa," he said. "The old rule is dead and all options are back on the table. We can once again consider options that preserve investor choice."

Investors don't care about an independent chair or 75% independent board, Atkins said. "No fund that I know of has ever marketed itself on the basis of who sits on the board or who serves as chairman of the board," he said. "Investors decide to invest by looking at who the fund advisor is, who the portfolio managers are, what other related funds and features the advisor offers, how high the fees are, and, in direct defiance of our ever-constant warnings, what the past performance has been."