FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MARCH 1, 2007

Contact: Rebecca Vander Linde/Bob Weiner 301-283-0821 or 202-329-1700

 

BUSH CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY NOMINEE
COULD NOT BE WORSE CHOICE
WITH DEEPER CONFLICT OF INTEREST,

Says Democratic Strategist Bob Weiner,
former House Government Operations Committee spokesman;

 

“Is Fox Guarding the Henhouse”

 

(Washington, DC) – President Bush’s nominee just announced for Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Michael E. Baroody, “could not be a worse choice with a deeper conflict of interest,” asserts Democratic strategist Bob Weiner, former spokesman for the House Government Operations Committee and now president of a Washington public issues strategies firm.

 

Weiner who was a public affairs director in the Clinton White House, added in a statement, “The Consumer Product Safety Commission protects Americans from the sale of faulty and dangerous items. The primary mission of the National Association of Manufacturers, where Mr. Baroody is Executive Vice President, is to assure that businesses make money from creating and selling products.”

 

“How does this President want confidence from the American people if he brings the business-protecting leader into the primary job supposed to protect American consumers from dangerous and faulty products?  This is a case of the fox guarding the henhouse.”

 

“Congress should reject this nomination and ask for a consumer-driven replacement,” Weiner concluded.

 

Source: Robert Weiner Associates Public Affairs 301-283-0821