Safety Panel Chief Resigns

WASHINGTON —  The head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced her resignation Wednesday, marking the latest development in the highly contentious battle to determine who will lead the regulatory agency, a fight the Bush administration indicated is far from over.

Ann W. Brown, a Democrat, said in an interview it is “important” that President Bush be allowed to select his own chairperson. Her resignation will take effect Nov. 1, unless a new agency chief is named and confirmed before then, Brown said.

Last week, a Senate committee rejected Bush’s first pick to replace Brown at the commission’s helm, handing the administration its first nomination defeat. Democrats on the Commerce Committee turned away Republican Mary Sheila Gall, one of the agency’s three commissioners, in a bitter party-line vote, charging that she has favored industry and failed to protect consumers and children. Gall’s supporters said she is a highly qualified candidate whose nomination was derailed by partisan bickering.

Brown hinted at her earlier refusal to support Gall’s nomination by stressing that Bush’s pick should be an aggressive advocate for consumers’ and children’s safety.

“I would like him to appoint a new chairman who not only shares his philosophy but is committed to the mission of the CPSC,” Brown said.

White House spokeswoman Anne Womack called Brown’s decision “unexpected” and said, “The administration is seeking new leadership for the [commission], and we will appoint the most qualified individual to serve.”

Still, the Bush administration does not appear to be satisfied with Brown’s announcement. According to an administration official, the White House believes it has the legal authority to strip Brown of her position and intends to continue pursuing methods to remove her from the post.

CPSC General Counsel Michael Solender said that the 1972 Consumer Product Safety Act, under which Congress created the commission, does not address whether the president can demote or remove a chairperson.

According to Solender, the law dictates that commissioners can be removed “for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office” and that a chairperson must be installed with Senate approval. But the administration’s assertions that it has statutory authority to remove Brown from the agency’s helm are on questionable ground, Solender said.

“There sure seem to be people around town who are certain on this,” Solender said. “I’m very curious as to what they base their certainty on.”

A spokesman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who vigorously opposed Gall’s nomination and is reportedly a close friend of Brown, said “one would have to question” any move by the White House to oust Brown.

“Given that [Brown] has announced her intention to resign . . . any action like that would only make it more difficult to work in a bipartisan fashion down the road,” Clinton spokesman Jim Kennedy said.

Brown, 64, said she had been planning to resign long before the furor over the nomination of Gall erupted. “I had decided to resign whenever a new chairman was appointed and confirmed,” Brown said. “I thought I’d be out of here by early this summer.”

But she said the “events that transpired” surrounding the Gall nomination have led her to stay on until the Senate confirms a new CPSC chief. “I didn’t want to leave [the commission] rudderless, without someone at the helm,” she said.

During her tenure as chairwoman, which began with her appointment by President Clinton in 1994, Brown has adopted an aggressive watchdog stance, frequently pushing for recalls and federal regulations to make products safer.

Her activist style of leadership has often encountered resistance from business and industry. Product manufacturers tend to prefer voluntary safety measures, which Gall has frequently advocated, over mandatory regulations, which frequently are more expensive.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a Commerce committee member who had assailed the Gall nomination, said in a statement that the departure of Brown is an indicator of the president’s priorities. The move “is a signal that those who fight for consumers against special interests are not welcome in this administration,” Boxer said.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Commerce committee’s top Republican and an ardent supporter of Gall’s nomination, could not be reached for comment.

Consumer advocate R. David Pittle, who is technical director of the Consumers Union and served as a CPSC commissioner during the agency’s first nine years, said he was “very disappointed” to hear of Brown’s impending departure from the commission.

Brown “used her role as a leader of the CPSC to press hard to make sure that products were safer and that injuries to consumers were reduced or eliminated where possible,” Pittle said.

Upon her departure, Brown plans to establish a nonprofit foundation called SAFE--a Safer America for Everyone--that will work with industry and consumers to enhance product safety.

Brown said she did not have a specific individual in mind to recommend as her successor at the commission, but she described the characteristics she hopes to see in a new chairperson.

“I hope whoever is appointed will be very active and devoted to the safety of families and children . . . and able to work with all the different constituencies--consumers, industries and government--in a bipartisan manner,” Brown said.