FC: Regulation aficionados applaud Congress action against FTC

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

(Andrew correctly says below that trade associations and lawyers may not
always represent the public interest. But he never makes the case for the
Media Access Project being any more, ah, disinterested. --Declan)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 16:28:33 -0500
From: Andrew Schwartzman <aschwa02@starpower.net>
Subject: Letter to Senator Hollings - wp file attached

January 22, 2002

The Honorable Ernest F. Hollings
Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
United States Senate
Room SD-508
Washington, DC 20510-6125

Dear Mr. Chairman:

     Media Access Project wishes to express its appreciation for your
prompt response to the Administration's ill-fated effort to restrict the
Federal Trade Commission's antitrust authority, especially as it affects
media, telecommunications, intellectual property and other mergers which
will determine the future of democracy in the digital era.

     MAP urges you to pursue this matter aggressively.  In particular, MAP
asks that you remain skeptical about claims that there is a problem in
need of repair.  MAP's experience is that the FTC and the Department of
Justice have been quite effective in allocating responsibility for
particular mergers.  Those claiming otherwise typically are trade
associations and lawyers who represent companies seeking merger approval;
their purported desire to expedite the review process may more accurately
be described as an interest in obtaining approval of mergers, not
improvement in antitrust enforcement.

     You understand as well as any member of Congress the important role
that independent regulatory commissions have always played in maintaining
public confidence in the integrity of the regulatory process when
controversial or politically sensitive issues must be addressed. While the
Department of Justice's Antitrust Division has generally attempted to
deflect political interference, there are disquieting indications that its
newly installed management may not respect this tradition of independence.  
That is why the FTC is inherently better equipped to handle most such
cases.  Any arbitrary division of authority between the Department of
Justice and the FTC will inevitably deprive the public of such independent
review in many instances.  It is especially alarming in this regard that
the secret plan devised by Messrs. James and Muris would have denied the
benefits of bipartisanship to the most politically volatile of all
mergers, those involving increasing concentration of control of the mass
media and the technologies those companies use to influence the
marketplace of ideas.

     Finally, MAP asks that you exercise your oversight authority to
explore whether the private antitrust bar exercised inappropriate
influence in the development of this scheme.  MAP stresses that it lacks
any evidence of questionable conduct.  However, reporters covering this
matter have implied privately and in print that some attorneys in private
practice at the least had advance knowledge of plans to divide antitrust
jurisdiction.  Insofar as Chairman Muris intentionally kept his fellow FTC
Commissioners in the dark about these negotiations, the involvement of the
defense bar would be a matter of considerable significance.  The public
deserves to know if this were the case, and Chairman Muris and Assistant
Attorney General James deserve exoneration if such implications turn out
not to be true.

                                   Sincerely,

                                   Andrew Jay Schwartzman
                                   President and CEO




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