by Mark Silva
In naming a new chairman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission today, expanding the size of the commission and boosting its budget, President Barack Obama said protecting consumers will be "a top priority'' of his administration.
The president has nominated Inez Moore Tenenbaum, a former South Carolina superintendent of education, to serve as chairman of the commission. And he has named Robert Adler, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, to fill one of two new seats being added to the three-member commission.
The $107-million budget increase that the president is seeking for the commission represents a 71 percent boost in the agency's funding since 2007, according to the White House, calling this a major step toward meeting Obama's campaign commitment to double the funding for an agency criticized for lax regulation and coziness with industry.
"It is a top priority of my administration to ensure that the products the American people depend on are safe,'' Obama said today, in a statement issued by the White House.
"We must do more to protect the American public - especially our nation's children - from being harmed by unsafe products,'' Obama said, voicing confidence that "this new leadership... will revitalize the agency and achieve the high standard of product safety that the American people deserve."
While expanding the commission from three members to five, the president is seeking an additional $107 million from Congress as part of the $3.55-trillion federal budget that he proposes for the 2010 fiscal year starting in October. The president, who delivered only an outline of that budget in February, plans to deliver Congress the details on Thursday.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission tests a wide range of products, everything from toys and cribs and strollers to toasters and all-terrain vehicles. The agency has been criticized for lax enforcement, allowing unsafe cribs, toys and other products to be sold, as investigations by the Chicago Tribune have revealed.
The CPSC, with about 430 employees, oversees about 15,000 products.
For more than 15 years, the White House says, the agency has operated with three commissioners. In expanding it to five, the White House calls this "tangible evidence of President Obama's commitment'' to "revitalize'' the agency.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who sponsored legislation last year to beef up consumer product safety, said today that "President Obama is sending notice that the CPSC is on its way back to being the nation's premier consumer watchdog agency.
"Two years of near-constant recalls exposed the failed leadership and scant resources of the CPSC,'' Durbin said. "Mismanagement, underfunding, and confusion about the agency's mission have all contributed to the CPSC's decline."
Tenenbaum, once confirmed by the Senate, will replace acting chairman Nancy Nord, who has become a target of criticism from Democrats in Congress and consumer advocates.
Nord, a former Eastman Kodak lobbyist appointed by former President George W. Bush, accepted at least three trips worth thousands of dollars from industry sources purportedly to share information about the CPSC and discuss toy safety. She has defended the trips as legal.
"I welcome the president's announcement today of his intent to nominate Inez Moore Tenenbaum as chairman and Robert Adler as commissioner for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission,'' Nord said in a statement issued by her office.
"An increased number of commissioners will provide the American consumer with decisions based upon a broader range of viewpoints and insights,'' said Nord, voicing her interest in working with the new team to "enhance our ongoing efforts to protect American families."
Tenenbaum, a lawyer who ran for the Senate in 2004, served two terms as the elected South Carolina education superintendent.
Tenenbaum was elected in 1998 and finished her second term in 2007. She had sought the Senate seat of retiring Democrat Fritz Hollings in 2004.
A lawyer, she had practiced health, environmental and public interest law with the firm Sinkler & Boyd, and had been director of research for the Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
Adler is a professor of legal studies at the University of North Carolina law school and law and ethics at the Kenan-Flagler Business School.
He has served as the associate dean of the MBA program and as associate dean for the School's undergraduate Business Administration program. He served as Counsel on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, with work in consumer safety, under the chairmanship of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)
The nominations are subject to Senate confirmation.
Comments
A good start would be a crackdown on counterfeit drugs, products, etc. coming in from abroad.
Do your pet's medications (or, worse, your own) have no effect?
Does the paint peel from the walls within a few months of application?
A common adulterant, at least in paint, varnishes, waxes:
asbestos.
Posted by: ornery | May 5, 2009 11:31 AM
I find it interesting that nothing was said about the performance of the previous group of individuals in relation to the task at hand. By increasing the staff by 66%, the president is sending a message that more is being done to protect our children? How? If three staff can perform the job, why do we need 5? Remember, there was nothing in the article about the staff not being able to complete their job. Only that there were a number of recalls and various mishaps. Perceptions are one thing, but why are we running on an assumption that more people and more money will solve the problem?
Spending more money w/o really identifying what the problem is stupid and foolish. Throwing more money at a problem and hoping the problem goes away only allows the blame to spread when the problem still exists. What's wrong with exercising a little more due-diligence before we throw more staff and dollars at a problem?
Posted by: ethan | May 5, 2009 11:51 AM
I'm sick and tired of this Bozo protecting me from myself.
.
What ever happened to reducing the federal government by 10%?
.
Now a lawyer and professional politician is going to be making engineering decisions, Brilliant! If these type of professional idiots can run the automakers as well as they have, why not give them product safey.
Posted by: Greg | May 5, 2009 11:53 AM
We would like to be protected from enroaching socialism, wild government spending (same thing), high taxes, loss of liberty, irrespobsible immigration and government intervention.
Posted by: Tim | May 5, 2009 12:05 PM
I agree with Tim and Gerhg. End all consumer protection investigations and testing immediately! It's marxist socialist commie nonsense not to trust corporations completely I know no corporation would ever cut corners on safety. I know that corporations are all perfect and totally devoted to their consumers not the bottom line. I'm willing to trust every corporation in america with the life of my child without any oversite, as any good red blooded american capitalist would. I don't need tests, I have faith in biig international corporations.
Posted by: Rushpublican | May 5, 2009 12:33 PM
Protect consumers? He is going to raise taxes on corporations which in turn will raise consumer prices. Going to tax carbon footprints which will increase dramatically consumer prices. This guy is a sham. No one should pay any taxesuntil this joker is out of office.
Posted by: Bob | May 5, 2009 12:51 PM
Please protect us by not telling Barry what comes after a trillion.
Posted by: BDD | May 5, 2009 1:18 PM
What a bag of BS. I am so sick of this guy. Bring Bush back! Never thought I would say that.
Posted by: JAC | May 5, 2009 1:48 PM
Does this guy every shut up? He's such a glory grabber that he's got to go out every day and read some announcement written by someone else for his TelePrompter. Familiarity breeds contempt. Maybe Obama should consider that and keep quiet for a day, at least.
Posted by: Aaron | May 5, 2009 2:20 PM
"I'm sick and tired of this Bozo
protecting me from myself."
I find it amazing that no matter what article comes out, if Obama is involved, you will get the most ridiculous criticisms. This policy is doing more to ensure products sold in our market place are safe for us and our children. Do you not recall all the tainted products we received from China last year? How does this equate to protecting you from yourself? Do you guys give any thoughts to your arguments, or do you just spout of your paranoid delusional ideas of socialism and people controlling your lives as they come bubbling up in your head?
Posted by: Reality Check | May 5, 2009 2:32 PM
"What a bag of BS. I am so sick of this guy. Bring Bush back! Never thought I would say that. " Can you please tell us why this BS? Im interested to hear why you think protecting our children from potentially harmful products is BS.
Posted by: ChiChi | May 5, 2009 2:51 PM
Bravo Obama. Once again acting to correct the incompetence of the Bush years. Good riddance to the knucklehead officeholders installed by the Republican Party
Posted by: Ed McGuinness | May 5, 2009 3:08 PM
Bigger government under the guise of protecting us from the bad guy. Createa a bad guy, then sell the public on "I'll fix this for you", just send in another few tax dollars and the problem is solved???
Paranoia bubbling up in our heads? Paranoia is increasing government and spending in order to protect us from unsafe products that have been through the poor government detection system already?
Building a bigger mousetrap doesn't catch you more mice, it just pays back the mouse trap builder for his support of your demands for a bigger trap.
Posted by: springfieldspringfield | May 5, 2009 3:12 PM
Tim- Provide us with some examples of the rights and liberties you have lost under Obama. And if you want socialism, move overseas to a real socialist country.
Posted by: Doug R. | May 5, 2009 3:37 PM
Kudos to President Obama for making such an inspired selection. I especially hope Ms. Tenenbaum can bring an end to the nonsensical, tiresome, and increasingly hysterical debate over the CPSIA. http://tinyurl.com/d65yvn This is a great day for consumers!
Posted by: Paul Walters | May 5, 2009 4:27 PM