Muris Poised to Be FTC Chairman
Timothy J. Muris, an antitrust professor and moderate conservative, is expected to be nominated soon as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, an agency with broad-ranging responsibilities from battling Internet fraud to reviewing corporate mergers.
Muris, 51, is seen as a thoughtful, experienced attorney who probably will take a more restrained approach to antitrust enforcement than current FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky, without dramatically shifting course.
Like many Bush appointees, Muris would be a familiar face at the agency he is expected to lead. During the Reagan administration, he served as director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection and the Bureau of Competition.
“He knows as much about these issues as anyone,” said Mary Azcuenaga, an antitrust attorney and former FTC commissioner who worked with Muris in the 1980s. “He’s a strong believer in antitrust laws. I expect he’ll be very active.”
Muris, a former Southern Californian who has advised Bush on economic and budget issues, declined to comment.
White House officials have not said when President Bush plans to nominate a new FTC chairman, but an announcement is expected any day. Pitofsky’s term expires in September, though he may step down early to allow his replacement to take office.
On antitrust matters, Muris is expected to focus on the competitive threats of cartels and mergers between direct competitors. An exponent of free markets, he has been skeptical of some of the government’s recent antitrust cases, which he said failed to demonstrate consumer harm.
“These investigations, as well as the subsequent cases, had a chilling effect on the winners in our competitive marketplace,” Muris said in a speech last summer.
Muris has criticized the government’s predatory-pricing case against American Airlines and helped Intel Corp. battle a 1998 FTC suit over the chip maker’s allegedly anti-competitive behavior. The Intel suit was settled on the eve of the trial.
Last year, Muris criticized the FTC for pursing antitrust cases against companies without demonstrating a clear link between the alleged monopoly and the anti-competitive behavior.
“He’ll approach enforcement with more caution,” said William Kovacic, an antitrust professor at George Washington University and former FTC official.
But experts don’t foresee any significant policy shifts. Muris himself has spoken about the “bipartisan consensus” that has emerged recently in antitrust enforcement.
“There are some cases brought by the Clinton administration that Tim Muris would not have supported,” said Howard Morse, a Washington antitrust attorney and former FTC assistant director of competition. “But we’re not going to see the elimination of antitrust enforcement.”
That’s partly because Pitofsky also has been viewed as a moderate. Though he blocked a few high-profile mergers, such as the proposed Office Depot-Staples deal, he oversaw the agency’s approval of the two of the biggest: Exxon Mobil and AOL Time Warner.
Muris will wield considerable influence over the agency’s pending initiatives to strengthen online privacy protections and rein in Hollywood’s marketing tactics. But his views on those issues are not widely known.
From 1985 to 1988, he worked at the Office of Management and Budget as executive associate director. He was also deputy counsel to the Task Force on Regulatory Relief, led by then-Vice President George Bush.
As head of the FTC’s consumer protection unit, Muris targeted deceptive advertising and investment scams. But he also worked to limit the agency’s rule-making power, which he believed was being improperly used to draft legislation.
As head of the Bureau of Competition, he investigated possible antitrust violations by two Hollywood labor unions. The investigation was dropped by his successor.
After growing up in Santa Monica, Muris graduated from San Diego State University and received a law degree from UCLA in 1974.
In 1988, Muris left government to teach law at George Mason University. He has also taught law at University of Miami and was a law and economics fellow at University of Chicago.
