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RESEARCH SHOWS LAW WOULD FORCE
MAJORAS TO RECUSE ON SOME FTC OIL, GASOLINE CASES
Wyden releases CRS report, says waiver
of rules for Majoras wouldn’t eliminate potential conflicts,
assure advocacy for consumers
June 10, 2004
Washington, DC –
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today released research from the
nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) indicating that
Federal law would require Deborah Majoras, the current nominee
to chair the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to recuse herself
from some oil and gasoline industry issues coming before the Commission.
Majoras has personally represented the oil giant ChevronTexaco
as outside counsel in the last year; according to CRS, such a
“past association” requires an official’s recusal
from any cases involving that company for one year. Moreover,
a current economic interest – which in Majoras’ case
is her spouse’s continued partnership in the same law firm
that represents ChevronTexaco – would require either recusal
or an “express waiver” of the rules to allow her further
participation in such cases. This has special ramifications for
the hard-hit West Coast gasoline market because of ChevronTexaco’s
major presence there.
“I expect the next chair
of the Federal Trade Commission to immediately get in the game
on the issue of gasoline prices, and this nominee has significant
and ongoing conflicts of interest regarding one of the nation’s
biggest oil companies,” said Wyden. “It would not
be enough for the FTC ethics officer to waive the rules and let
Ms. Majoras participate. That would not eliminate the conflict,
nor would it increase the likelihood that Americans paying astronomical
gas prices will finally get the true advocate they need in this
post.”
CRS found that a presidential
appointee “must recuse from any ‘particular matter’
which may directly and predictably impact an entity in which the
official, the official’s spouse or dependent children have
a current financial interest,” and from “‘particular
matters involving specific parties’ if the official’s
impartiality may be questioned, when the official had represented
or acted as the attorney for the private party during the previous
one-year period.”
The report, which follows this
release, comes at a time when gasoline prices remain at near-historic
highs across the country and when research shows that oil company
mergers allowed by the FTC have contributed to those high prices.
As oil companies continue to post record refinery margins and
profits, documented anti-competitive practices are raising prices
even further at the pump – particularly in the Pacific Northwest.
Wyden has already publicly placed
a “hold” on Majoras’ nomination as FTC chair,
due to her inability to present concrete initiatives to change
the FTC’s long history of inaction on anti-competitive practices
in the oil industry and in oil and gasoline markets. Wyden has
long urged the FTC to use its existing authority to crack down
on practices that force gasoline prices higher for American consumers;
however, the agency has consistently failed to do so. Wyden says
he will not allow the confirmation of another FTC chair until
that person demonstrates specific intentions to stand up for American
consumers on gasoline pricing issues.
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