OPINION:
We’ve long had doubts about Lina Khan, the former Columbia University law professor tapped by President Biden early in his administration to lead the Federal Trade Commission.
After watching her closely for almost two years, we can say she’s done little, if anything, to assure us our doubts were misplaced. Her understanding of markets is singularly unimpressive, her management skills seem severely deficient, and her approach to regulation reminds us of the old saw about everything looking like a nail when all you have is a hammer.
Federal regulators are not executives or legislators. They are constrained — or are at least supposed to be — by rules set by others. This is especially true for what the Supreme Court recently referred to as “major questions” in its decision in West Virginia v. EPA.
Her record on regulatory matters is disturbing, especially where potential mergers and acquisitions are concerned. She seems to object to them in principle, never mind that they can increase efficiencies in the marketplace without hindering competition. They can also lead to eventual growth and job creation even after redundancies are reduced.
Still, she doesn’t like them. Her record indicates she thinks they are inherently anti-competitive and should be blocked using almost any means necessary.
This includes reliable reports that she’s pushed British and European Union regulators to block mergers involving U.S. companies she’s been unable to stop here in Washington.
Making American business better, bigger and more profitable should be imperative for anyone picked to lead a U.S. regulatory body with global reach. That’s what she’s paid by the taxpayers to do. Her job isn’t to protect Chinese and European companies from their U.S. competitors.
Congress seems to have had enough. Reps. Jamie Comer, Kentucky Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, have both announced their committees are taking a closer look at what’s been going on at the FTC.
We support the inquiry into allegations she has continually abused the power of the chairman’s office to pursue an agenda of her own without the backing or participation of her fellow commissioners by centralizing power in the chairman’s office.
This was long rumored until a February op-ed by now-former FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson brought it out in the open. She wrote that she believed Ms. Khan’s handling of the business before the commission had so badly undermined its integrity that she was left with no choice but to resign.
“I am not alone in harboring concerns about the honesty and integrity of Ms. Khan and her senior FTC leadership,” Ms. Wilson wrote. “Hundreds of FTC employees respond annually to the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. In 2020, the last year under Trump appointees, 87% of surveyed FTC employees agreed that senior agency officials maintain high standards of honesty and integrity. Today that share stands at 49%.”
Ms. Wilson wrote that this was not about policy. “Many FTC staffers agree with Ms. Khan on antitrust policy, so these survey results don’t necessarily reflect disagreement with her ends.”
Instead, she continued, “staffers’ discomfort with her means, which involve dishonesty and subterfuge,” adding that her “fundamental concern” with Ms. Khan’s leadership pertained “to her willful disregard of congressionally imposed limits on agency jurisdiction, her defiance of legal precedent, and her abuse of power to achieve desired outcomes.”
Has Ms. Khan gone “rogue,” as Mr. Comer said he feared when announcing his committee’s inquiry? Congress will find out, but it’s an easy thing to do when you’re an activist who’s taken it upon herself to try to enlarge your agency’s mission and expand its authority without congressional authorization.
Federal regulatory commissioners are supposed to be independent so they can be insulated from political pressure. This also blocks them from being held accountable for what they do.
The president appoints members of federal regulatory bodies like the FTC — subject to the advice and consent of the Senate — but cannot fire them. The president can, however, suggest politely and privately that they resign.
Mr. Biden should do so before the month is out.
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