Republican Commissioner Joshua Wright to Leave FTC
August 17 2015 - 12:50PM
Dow Jones News
WASHINGTON—A Republican member of the Federal Trade Commission
is stepping down and returning to academia, shortly after brokering
a first-of-its-kind policy agreement with the agency's Democratic
majority.
Commissioner Joshua Wright, 38 years old, will leave on Aug. 24
after nearly three years at the FTC, the commission said
Monday.
Mr. Wright had developed a reputation as the FTC's most
conservative commissioner and was a frequent dissenter to antitrust
enforcement actions brought under Democratic leadership, including
to the commission's successful challenge earlier this year to the
planned merger of rival food distributors Sysco Corp. and US Foods
Inc.
Last week Mr. Wright reached agreement with the FTC's three
Democrats to issue the commission's first-ever guidelines for how
it will use its century-old powers to police "unfair" competition
by businesses.
The agreement laid out formal principles the commission said it
would follow when considering enforcement actions under Section 5
of the FTC Act, a 100-year-old provision that declares "unfair
methods of competition in or affecting commerce" to be
unlawful.
Mr. Wright had made the unfairness guidelines his top priority,
citing the business community's need for clarity and predictability
on FTC enforcement practices. He pledged to support compromise
guidelines that weren't as conservative as he preferred.
Republicans on Capitol Hill last week voiced support for the
agreement, though the FTC's other GOP commissioner, Maureen
Ohlhausen, criticized the guidelines as inadequate and lacking
proper limits on FTC authority.
Mr. Wright in an interview said he was leaving the FTC to return
to teaching full-time at George Mason University School of Law,
where he said he will also direct the school's Global Antitrust
Institute, which focuses on research and education efforts in
antitrust.
With the FTC's Section 5 guidelines now in place, "it's a good
time to go back home to Mason," he said.
Mr. Wright's departure shouldn't have a major effect on the
five-member FTC's enforcement approach because Democrats still hold
a majority three seats.
Write to Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 17, 2015 13:35 ET (17:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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