ASHINGTON, Oct. 31 — Three investigations began today into the Securities and Exchange Commission's choice of William H. Webster to head a new board overseeing the accounting profession. House and Senate Democrats called for the resignations of both Mr. Webster and Harvey L. Pitt, the commission's chairman.

The White House, always alert to the beginnings of political scandals, went into what staffers call 'IDC' mode.[Editor: 'IDC" mode stands for 'Immediate Damage Control']

At 9:49 am today, the White House called a press conference, and underscoring the importance of the event, President Bush chose to speak to the press, himself, rather than letting Ari Fleischer handle the damage control.

"Ari Fleischer told me to get this message out to you folks in the press that there is too much misinformation, whatever that means, in the news. With these important republican elections coming up next week, it is crucial that we get the word out to the American people that this Administration is pulling for them. The American people, I am referring to."

"And another thing. You folks in the Press are all hung up on this thing you call 'conflict of interest'. And all your news stories portray this like it is a bad thing. Let me tell you something. If you don't know anyone important, you can't have any conflicts of interest. And the aim of our Administration is to build an alliance between Government and Industry, and I have brought in some real heavy hitters from industry to serve in my Administration. How the heck am I supposed to select individuals without conflicts. The way I see it, the more conflicts they have, the more they know, and the more important people they know, and in the long run, our Government will prosper, rather than me selecting a bunch of bureaucrats who didn't know anyone and therefore didn't know anything and see what kind of government and alliance between Washington and Wall Street that would get us."

"Let me say this about William Webster. He is undoubtedly the best man for the job. Unquestionably. Here is a man who came up in the ranks of the CIA and the FBI who has proven again and again that secrecy is more important than candor and public disclosure. He has shown his dying loyalty to his superiors. These are qualities we value in the White House. And these were qualities my Daddy valued in his White House when Mr. Webster served in his Administration and still had his wits about him."

"As to the criticism that Bill Webster is clueless in accounting matters, you see, in my mind that is actually an advantage. It shows that he can approach his new job with an open mind. And I am sure he will select many wise men to serve under him in the SEC, some of them I flat out guarantee you will know something about Accounting."

"And his coming in at this time works out real well. It pretty well guarantees us that for many of the very qualified Republican Members of Congress who are apt to lose their re-election next week, we can still find them a job in Government, in the SEC if need be, so that we don't lose the opportunity to draw on their valuable experience in Congress and how do deal effectively with political donors who have matters pending before Congress and the SEC. Without that kind of expertise and understanding by SEC staffers, these corporate types are helpless."

"So don't carry on with this story how Mr. Webster knows nothing about accounting and fraud and tax loopholes. Once he gets into the job at the SEC and surrounds himself with out-of-office Senators and Congressmen, he will be fully up to date in these matters."

"Look at some of the other great administration personnels who came to their top jobs within my Administration without any background in their new departments. Look at Tom Ridge, an unemployed Governor - what did he know about national security?? What did it matter?? Look at the wonderful job he is doing looking out for our nation's security. I can't rightly blame neither him nor Jeb for not catching that boatload of Haitiians who slinked onto our shores, in such skullduggery fashion. Imagine, coming ashore in broad daylight, right in the middle of Miami. Not even a national security advisor could be expected to anticipate such a deceptive breach of our security, landing in the disguise of an ordinary fishing boat, imagine. So what if they didn't realize that few fishing boats have crews of 600. They sure know now, and Jeb assures me that this won't happen again, at least not until after November 5."

"Listen, we are a nation at war - and I'd 'preciate it if you remind our voters about that in the next five days. The war is against terrorists, against Saddam, against North Korea - not an internal war where we fight about the ethics and qualifications of our elected officials. Such infighting can only divide us and make us look bad in the eyes of both our enemies and our former allies."

"If there ever came a day when I would encourage the Press to be patriotic, now's the time."

By Stephen Labaton, The New York Times

Three investigations began today into the Securities and Exchange Commission's choice of William H. Webster to head a new board overseeing the accounting profession. House and Senate Democrats called for the resignations of both Mr. Webster and Harvey L. Pitt, the commission's chairman.

The White House expressed support for Mr. Webster as well as for Mr. Pitt, who was harshly criticized today for failing to inform other commissioners before they approved the choice of Mr. Webster that he had led the audit committee of a company facing fraud accusations.

"The president still has confidence in Harvey Pitt," said Dan Bartlett, Mr. Bush's communications director. "He does believe Harvey Pitt is the right man for the job."

Mr. Webster — who was solicited for the board by the White House and Mr. Pitt after another candidate, John H. Biggs of the investment plan TIAA-CREF, was challenged by the accounting profession for being too aggressive — said he had no intention of leaving.

"You haven't knocked me out of the box yet," he said in an interview this afternoon. "I was not a competitor for this job. I disclosed everything that I thought would be a possible issue. I believe I acted honorably."

Mr. Webster, 78, a former F.B.I. chief and director of central intelligence, said he briefed Mr. Pitt and the S.E.C.'s chief accountant about some accusations against the company before the commissioners voted 3 to 2 last Friday in favor of his appointment, according to an article in The New York Times today. The accusations concern a small publicly traded company, U.S. Technologies, which is nearly insolvent.

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Now, the oversight board created by Congress to police and clean up accounting after a wave of corporate failures will begin its life with an investigation into how its own members were chosen. The S.E.C.'s inspector general and the General Accounting Office began conducting investigations today into Mr. Webster's selection.

In addition, Senator Paul S. Sarbanes, Democrat of Maryland and chairman of the banking committee and co-author of the legislation that created the accounting board, said he would hold hearings on the matter when Congress returns after next week's midterm elections.

Bush administration officials nonetheless backed Mr. Webster. "Judge Webster has a long career and is respected on both sides of the aisle as an individual of integrity," a White House spokeswoman, Claire Buchan, said. "We're pleased chairman Pitt will be reviewing the process used in appointing the members to the oversight board."

Some Democrats said they had no expectation that the White House or many Republicans would abandon Mr. Pitt less than a week before Election Day. "The criticism on this will happen Nov. 6," said Senator Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey, who joined a long list of fellow Democrats today calling on Mr. Bush to replace Mr. Pitt. "It's unrealistic and impractical to presume serious Republican criticism when the president says there is no reason for it."

But Mr. Pitt's standing began to erode among some Republicans, who with the exception of Senator John McCain of Arizona have largely stood by, either silently or in his corner.

Senator Michael B. Enzi, a Wyoming Republican and the only accountant in the Senate, issued a statement implicitly critical of the selection process.

"I have supported and will continue to support full disclosure when it comes to appointments of any kind," Mr. Enzi's statement said. "This lack of transparency raises questions in my mind that should be addressed by the White House."

While some Democrats, including Mr. Corzine and Representative Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts called on Mr. Webster to step down, Mr. Sarbanes refused at a news conference to criticize Mr. Webster explicitly.

Instead, he read from newspaper editorials that said Mr. Webster had been used as a convenient tool to lead the board after the accounting industry raised objections about a more qualified candidate. "This faulty process has cast a cloud over the board," Mr. Sarbanes said.

Mr. Webster brushed off concerns about his effectiveness. "If my leadership would be a problem and a person I respected told me that, then I would reconsider," he said. But he added that he had received no such advice.

Congressional officials said they would examine Mr. Webster's work not only at U.S. Technologies, but also his role as a director at NextWave Telecom, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and has been embroiled in litigation with the government for years over spectrum licenses worth billions of dollars. The company's fight with the Federal Communications Commission over those licenses is now before the Supreme Court.

Neither NextWave nor U.S. Technologies was listed on the biographical sheet issued by the commission after Mr. Webster's selection. The release noted that he had served on the audit committees of Anheuser-Busch, Pinkerton and Maritz Inc.

The S.E.C. announced this morning that it had ordered its inspector general to conduct an inquiry after several of its commissioners complained privately that they had not been be notified about the conversation Mr. Webster had with Mr. Pitt about U.S. Technologies.

Mr. Pitt did not tell the other commissioners about a later conversation, either, S.E.C. officials said. Just after his appointment, Mr. Webster said, he learned that a government investigation had begun into the chief executive of the company for possible fraud. Mr. Webster, who left the company's board in July, said he called Mr. Pitt with this news on Monday, but S.E.C. officials said Mr. Pitt did not pass it on.

The announcement about the inquiry was amended later in the day, exposing the extreme bitterness now enveloping the S.E.C. The agency initially announced that Mr. Pitt had called for the investigation. The announcement was modified after some commissioners complained that they, and not Mr. Pitt, had pressed for the investigation.