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FTC chairwoman refuses to step down from Google investigation
US FEDERAL TRADE Commission chairwoman, Deborah Platt Majoras is refusing to step aside from an inquiry into the proposed merger of Google and DoubleClick.
DoubleClick is a big client of her husband's law firm, Jones Day. In fact, Deborah Majoras also worked for the same firm until she got the top job at the FTC.
Another person who will be investigating the Doubleclick merger will be Commissioner William Kovacic, whose wife, Kathryn Fenton, also works for Jones Day. He said he will not stand aside either, although no one has asked him too.
According to the Washington Post, Majoras claims that there was no ethical or legal conflict. Her hubby John Majoras was not an equity partner and will not make money out of the deal.
She claimed that Jones Day represents DoubleClick only in Europe.
However that is not what used to be said on Jones Day's web site.
Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, pointed out that last week Jones Day's Web site claimed it was advising DoubleClick on the "international and US antitrust and competition law aspects of its planned $3.1 billion acquisition by Google". The page has since been disappeared from Jones Day's site.
It is strange that Majoras is so adamant on ruling on the Doubleclick merger. She has excused herself from other investigations involving Jones Day. µ
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The wife of a guy involved in a merger wants to be the one to judge if said merger is a good thing.
Isn't that a case of personal conflict ? I would think that a judge would not be able to take a case involving his own family, let alone his spouse, so why is that possible at the FTC ?
Oh, sorry, silly me. It's a GOVERNMENT institution - nothing to do with Justice there.
Perhaps an investigation how jobs at the FTC are distributed is also in order, seems a bit coincidental how the whole board of the FTC has links to the same law firm.
Who gave them the jobs at the FTC one wonders.