Safety Foe to Head Consumer Product Safety Commission

March 8, 2007, Washington, D.C.

It's getting to be a tired cliché in covering the Bush White House but once again the administration has nominated a fox to guard the henhouse – in this case, a leader of the extreme anti-union, anti-consumer National Association of Manufacturers as chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Michael Baroody, most recently executive vice president of NAM and, in the 1980s, President Reagan's assistant secretary of labor, has a long history of working for Republican and business interests. According to media reports, his track record includes delays in issuing worker safety rules, fighting the ergonomics standard and criticizing federal EPA policies limiting smog and soot.

"Here was a golden opportunity to put a true champion of consumers onto a very important commission, and instead President Bush selected someone who represents the special interests," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a member of the Commerce Committee that will hold hearings on Baroody's nomination.