Jeffrey Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy said he would...

Jeffrey Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy said he would try to raise awareness about the nomination of Deborah Majoras to be chmn. of the FTC (CD May 13 p14). FTC Chmn. Timothy Muris said Mon. he would resign his chairmanship this summer and Majoras, a former Justice Dept. antitrust official, would be appointed to replace him as chmn.. Chester said Majoras supported the abandoned plan of the FTC and DoJ to allocate industries between them for merger reviews. DoJ would have gotten all media and telecom merger reviews. The plan was abandoned after some senators - - particularly Senate Commerce Committee ranking Democrat Hollings (S.C.) (then chairman) -- raised concerns. Hollings argued that the FTC was more likely to challenge media mergers while the DoJ would be more likely to approve them. Chester cited an April 2002 speech Majoras, then a DoJ attorney, gave to the Houston Bar Assn. She said the plan was the right thing to do to avoid costly and time-consuming “turf fights” between DoJ and FTC. Chester said he was concerned about the prospect of an FTC chairman who had argued in favor of reducing the agencies jurisdiction. Muris also supported the plan.