President Obama has beefed up consumer protection enforcement at the FTC with the nomination of Julie Brill, the Senior Deputy Attorney General and Chief of Consumer Protection and Antitrust for North Carolina. Brill has an impressive consumer protection resume, with an emphasis on credit reporting and privacy issues.
For 20 years Brill was an Assistant Attorney General for Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the state of Vermont. There she brought enforcement actions against tobacco and pharmaceutical companies, and focused much of her time on the reform and enforcement of privacy laws affecting consumers. She was responsible for strengthening Vermont’s controversial law preventing companies from collecting, and selling, information on which drugs doctors most frequently prescribe. Brill has also testified before Congress regarding the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Financial Data Protection Act. She stated that identity theft is a “serious and rapidly growing crime” and argued that Congress should create a national baseline standard for credit reporting and financial data protection and allow states to enact laws that are more protective of consumers. Brill has also taken a strong stance on affiliate sharing, noting that “greater consumer protections to guard against such practices should be incorporated into both federal law and state law.” If confirmed she would likely be a strong backer of the Commission’s existing priorities.
President Obama’s second nominee, Edith Ramirez is a partner at Quinn Emanuel in Los Angeles, Ramirez focuses the majority of her practice on copyright and trademark infringement. Ramirez has worked for President Obama one other time. While at Harvard Law School, Ramirez was a member of The Harvard Law Review under Editor in Chief Obama. Ramirez does not appear to have much in the way of a consumer protection record. However, she is a member of the Board of Commissioners for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The Mayor of Los Angeles appointed Ramirez to the Commission in 2005, calling for a commitment to a “cleaner and greener” Los Angeles, while providing “reliable and cost-efficient water and power to 3.8 million customers.” The Board of Commissioners has attempted to meet these goals, and have aggressively reviewed contracts, lobbying costs, and executive perks, while arguing for more transparency within the Department.
- Danielle Sims and Randy Shaheen
