Pension Adviser Wants Mozilo to Resign

The CtW Investment Group, a nonprofit pension fund advisory group, wants Angelo Mozilo to resign as chairman and chief executive of Countrywide Financial Group, saying his "insider" stock sales have destroyed shareholder confidence in him.CtW advises union pension funds affiliated with Change to Win, which has 6 million union members. William Patterson, executive director of CtWIG, wrote to Countrywide lead director Harley Snyder, calling on the company's board to fire Mr. Mozilo. Change to Win unions hold about 3.5 million shares of Countrywide stock. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently opened an informal investigation into Mr. Mozilo's stock sales, which have totaled about $300 million over the past three years. In past interviews, Mr. Mozilo has defended his disposition of stock, noting that all sales have been disclosed and pre-arranged. At deadline time, Countrywide's spokesman Rick Simon had not returned a telephone call and e-mail message about the matter.