NY Nonprofit Laws Set Limits on Pay

Once upon a time, not that long ago, in a land called New York, the New York Stock Exchange sat as a nonprofit organization paying the typical salaries one might expect from people dealing with businesses and people who make a lot of money speculating on the value of businesses and people.  In fact, the then nonprofit Stock Exchange paid well -- the CEO earned $23 million a year -- that's "well".

That once upon a time ended and now the New York Stock Exchange's is a for-profit.  The reasons are varied and appropriate and the New York Stock Exchange pays the typical salaries one might expect from people dealing with businesses and people who make a lot of money speculating on the value of businesses and people but actually, not as much money as it paid when it was a nonprofit.

Eliot Spitzer, NY's former Attorney General, brought six counts against the formerly high paid nonprofit exec, but a ruling, noted in the New York Times, threw out four of the six.  Since at least 2004, NY's Attorney General's Office has argued that the pay was "unreasonable under New York's nonprofit laws", and that full disclosure to the board was lacking.

Unreasonable by law?  Should there be laws governing how much a nonprofit exec can earn?  Shouldn't nonprofit salaries be competitive with their counterparts in the for-profit sector? 

I can not argue they shouldn't be competitive.  What do you think?