Nominee to Head Consumer Agency Withdraws
By STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON, May 23 — President Bush’s nominee to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission withdrew his name from consideration today, as a growing number of senators questioned both his suitability and a $150,000 departure payment that the National Association of Manufacturers was preparing to pay him. The nominee, Michael E. Baroody, is a senior lobbyist for the association.
Administration officials and Congressional leaders said that Mr. Baroody decided to withdraw after it became increasingly clear that his nomination would be rejected by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. The committee was scheduled to hold a confirmation hearing on Thursday.
After he was nominated by President Bush last March, Mr. Baroody came under heavy criticism from consumer groups, as well as trial lawyers, medical doctors and firefighters. They said that Mr. Baroody’s record, and that of the association, in opposing safety regulations demonstrated that he was not qualified for the job.
In recent years, Mr. Baroody has lobbied Congress to protect companies against lawsuits brought by workers who claim to have been injured by asbestos exposure. He also opposed legislation in New York to force tobacco companies to make cigarettes that are less likely to cause fires.
White House officials rejected the criticism, saying that Mr. Baroody’s earlier experience at the Labor Department during the Reagan administration, along with an extensive background in consumer issues gained at the manufacturers’ association, suited him well for the job.
Mr. Baroody was the latest in a line of industry executives and lawyers who have been put forward by President Bush to head safety agencies. Some of them have been vocally critical of federal regulation and have called for rolling back many rules.
His nomination began to founder after the disclosure last Wednesday that he would be receiving a $150,000 special payment from the association, and that the severance package was amended by the association shortly after he was identified as the top candidate for the post.
The White House had continued to defend Mr. Baroody publicly, but, in contrast with other contentious nominations, it refused to expend any significant political capital to lobby on his behalf. Nor did President Bush appear to be willing to appoint him during a Congressional recess, as he has sometimes done with other nominees who have run into problems on Capitol Hill.
The manufacturers’ association and its business members have many issues before the commission. The association recently persuaded the agency to relax rules that dictate when companies must notify it about defective products. And the association’s member companies are often involved in proceedings before the commission to determine whether their products are safe or may need to be recalled or withdrawn from the marketplace.
It was not clear how much the White House knew about Mr. Baroody’s severance agreement before last week. Last Tuesday, a White House official said the administration had been assured by the general counsel of the association that the payment was unconnected to the nomination. That appeared to suggest that the White House had not seen the actual agreement.
According to Mr. Baroody’s financial disclosure statement, the severance agreement was originally written in January 2006, long before a vacancy arose at the commission, but was amended last January, days after Mr. Baroody was publicly identified on Web sites and in trade publications as the leading candidate.
The White House refused to release details of the agreement or the amendment, and rejected Congressional requests for copies of them.
In a letter to the commission’s general counsel that neither the White House nor Mr. Baroody would make public, Mr. Baroody said that, because of the $150,000 payment, government regulations required him to remove himself from agency matters involving the association for two years. He also said that the payment would not preclude him from hearing cases involving individual companies that are members of the association. Such cases are common.
In accepting Mr. Baroody’s withdrawal today, the White House attacked his critics.
“Obviously we feel that he was a strong candidate who would have done a wonderful job at the Consumer Product Safety Commission,” said Emily Lawrimore, a White House spokeswoman. “After some in the Senate rushed to judgment about Mr. Baroody and his qualifications, it became evident to Mr. Baroody that he would not be confirmed.”
Mr. Baroody did not respond to an e-mail message seeking comment.
John Engler, the president of the manufacturers’ association and former governor of Michigan, issued a statement today saying that Mr. Baroody’s withdrawal had come after an “unprincipled smear campaign waged against Mike, aided and abetted by an unethical release of his financial records.”
“Watching this abuse of process, apparently without consequence for the wrongdoers, makes me wonder why any qualified citizen would submit to run today’s Senate gauntlet,” Mr. Engler said.
Many of the Democrats on the commerce committee, including Barbara Boxer of California, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, said they had serious concerns about the nomination.
Mr. Baroody met on Monday with a leading Democratic critic, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida. Mr. Nelson said today that Mr. Baroody had provided an explanation of the payment, which prompted Mr. Nelson to ask for copies of the severance agreement and the revisions to it. Two Illinois Democrats, Richard Durbin and Barack Obama, also sought details of the severance package. Mr. Baroody told Mr. Nelson that he would consider the request.
But Mr. Nelson said today that he never received the information.
“Mr. Baroody is a consummate professional, but his ties to the industries he would have had to regulate were just too strong, creating at least the appearance of a conflict of interest,” Mr. Nelson said. |
