Republican FTC Commissioner Departs Over Agency Doing Its Job
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Christine Wilson, a Republican commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), today announced her intent to resign over objections to Chair Lina Khan’s direction for agency. Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, released the following statement:
“Wilson says she is taking a ‘noisy exit’ from the agency in a Wall Street Journal op-ed based on purported process and ethics concerns. But the core of her complaint is that… Chair Lina Khan is doing her job.
“Khan has brought to the agency a new vigor, purpose, and drive. She is making the agency work for consumers and the public. She’s courageously willing to challenge norms and revive dormant laws and doctrines to serve the public interest.
“Wilson says she respects policy differences, but it is exactly policy differences that she highlights in her op-ed. Wilson complains that Khan and a majority of the commissioners aim to revitalize antitrust enforcement. She argues that the noncompete rulemaking that President Joe Biden highlighted in his State of the Union speech ‘defies’ the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in West Virginia v. EPA. That is a complete misreading of the decision – one that just so happens to serve corporate interests.
“‘If you see something, say something,’ says Wilson. Well, we see an agency under Chair Khan’s leadership doing its job – and Commissioner Wilson dressing up her objections to that fact in the guise of process complaints.
“As for ethics issues, prior to Lina Khan’s chairing the FTC, three quarters of top agency officials left for revolving door conflicts. Almost two-thirds left to work for Big Tech. That’s the core ethics problem that has plagued the agency for decades. It doesn’t rate in Commissioner Wilson’s ‘noisy exit.’ It will be interesting to see what’s next in her future.”