The new SEC chairman, whose nearly two decades as a Republican Congressman from California earned him the label "business friendly," sounded on Thursday almost like a populist.

Sure, protecting investors is what the SEC is all about. Worrying about the little guy struggling among the well-heeled corporate and Wall Street behemoths is about as controversial as coming out in favor of mom and apple pie.

Still, in his remarks to the SEC staff and fellow commissioners Thursday and in earlier comments to the Senate Banking Committee at his confirmation hearing, Cox seems to be going out of his way to dispel the notion that he will be some sort of stooge for corporate and financial firms' interests.

He openly praised his predecessor, former SEC Chairman William Donaldson, when he spoke to the senators in late July. So much for those among business leaders hoping Cox would be the polar opposite of Donaldson, who as chairman surprised some with his dedication to acting on tough issues.

Of course, Cox has yet to take positions on the concrete issues facing the SEC. Still, he has made it clear, to the relief of those worried about his pro-business reputation, that he's not interested in trying to massively undo SEC rules approved in earlier regimes.

In fact, he had some fun Thursday with the prognosticators who have already publicly decided whether he will be business friendly or investor friendly as the chief of the SEC.

Some of the pronouncements about what Cox will do as SEC chairman have been as accurate as a "WorldCom prospectus," he said in remarks at the SEC's Washington headquarters. His remarks were Webcast.

Cox said investor interests and business interests don't have to be mutually exclusive. But he made it clear what side the SEC is on. The Department of Commerce serves business interests, Cox said, adding, "we are the investor's advocate."

Cox said protection for individual investors must reside in the "DNA" of every office and division within the SEC.

Using DNA as a metaphor has become popular among SEC chairmen. Ex-chairman Donaldson often talked about DNA in a different context, saying ethical behavior needed to become entwined in the "essential DNA" of public companies.

Cox took the individual investor-protection theme into the realm of disclosure. He said, citing efforts made under former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, that corporate disclosures and SEC rules needed to be in plainer English.

Lawyers have "decoder rings" for the complex issues and language that form the discourse with and by the SEC. Individual investors lack those tools, he said.

Disclosures can be improved, he added, by finding out what investors want and need to know to make investment decisions.

Cox also used his first public remarks as SEC chief to praise his colleagues at the watchdog agency. "There is no more professional agency than the SEC," he said.

-- Neal Lipschutz is senior editor, Americas, Dow Jones Newswires.