Chief of F.T.C. to Resign; replacement controversal

May 12, 2004 - New York Times
Chief of F.T.C. to Resign
By STEPHEN LABATON

WASHINGTON, May 11 - Timothy J. Muris said on Tuesday that he had decided to step down as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. The White House announced that President Bush had selected Deborah P. Majoras, a former top antitrust official at the Justice Department, to succeed him.

Mr. Muris said he planned to leave this summer, remaining at the agency long enough to ensure a smooth transition, a spokeswoman at the agency, Nancy Ness Judy, said.

As the No. 2 official in the antitrust division, Ms. Majoras played a central role in negotiating the government's settlement with Microsoft nearly three years ago. The agreement was criticized by some of Microsoft's rivals and by officials of some states, and it is likely to be discussed at her confirmation hearing in the Senate this year.

Ms. Majoras was also involved in a proposal to surrender some of the F.T.C.'s antitrust authority over mergers of media companies to the Justice Department. Some critics attacked the proposal, saying they thought the department might not be aggressive enough in scrutinizing such deals.

The plan was ultimately scuttled after it ran into fierce opposition from consumer groups and from some lawmakers, notably Senator Ernest F. Hollings, Democrat of South Carolina, who threatened to hold up the F.T.C.'s budget over the issue.

Last year, Ms. Majoras left the government to return to the Washington office of the law firm of Jones Day. Her clients include a number of large pharmaceutical and health care companies, including Aventis, Novartis and Tenet Healthcare.

She has also advised clients in several significant telecommunications deals, including AT&T's purchase of Tele-Communications, Cablevision's acquisition of a group of Tele-Communications cable systems and CBS's purchase of Infinity Broadcasting, according to her biography on the Jones Day Web site.

Mr. Muris intends to return to George Mason University, where he taught antitrust law before he became chairman of the agency in 2001, Ms. Judy, the agency spokeswoman, said.

He was selected by Mr. Bush after working on the presidential campaign four years ago as an adviser on economic, budget and regulatory issues. He was a staff official at the commission during the 1970's and 1980's and worked in the Office of Management and Budget for three years during the Reagan administration.

Under the Bush administration, the F.T.C. has had a significantly lower profile than it had during the Clinton administration, in part because of different philosophical views on competition policy and in part because of market circumstances.

As a result of the downturn in the markets three years ago, the agency has not faced the onslaught of huge merger reviews that Clinton appointees had to conduct. But Mr. Muris and the staff he selected have also taken a less aggressive posture in some areas of competition analysis.

But under his tenure, the agency has remained focused on anticompetitive conduct in the health care industry and has brought a number of significant cases involving collusion by drug makers. The agency under his leadership also brought cases against companies that regulators said had tried to use government regulations and industry standards to reduce competition.

Mr. Muris led the agency in its popular crusade against telemarketers, creating a "do not call" registry and then successfully defending it from court challenges brought by the industry. The registry enables consumers to block solicitations by registering their phone numbers.

"He came with a strong ideological conservative bent and surprised everyone by steering a course that reflected the bipartisan tradition of the Federal Trade Commission," said Gene Kimmelman, a senior director at Consumers Union. "He avoided partisan rancor. While he wasn't particularly aggressive in antitrust enforcement, he responded to public concern on the 'do not call' list. And he preserved the consumer protection function of the agency."