Obama picks Brill, Ramirez as FTC commissioners
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama has chosen Julie Brill, North Carolina's top consumer watchdog, and attorney Edith Ramirez to fill two vacant spots on the Federal Trade Commission, the White House said on Monday.
"These individuals bring a depth of experience to their respective roles, and I am confident they will serve my administration and the American people well," Obama said in a statement.
Brill became the senior deputy attorney general and chief of consumer protection and antitrust for the North Carolina Department of Justice in February 2009.
Ramirez has represented corporations like Mattel Inc and Northrop Grumman Corp. She is a partner at a law firm in Los Angeles.
Both Democrats will be joining an organization that works to keep advertisers honest and consumers from having their identities stolen by scam artists.
They would replace Republican Deborah Majoras, who stepped down in March 2008, and independent Pamela Jones Harbor, whose term ended in September.
The FTC also divides the work of enforcing antitrust law with the U.S. Justice Department. The FTC is assessing proposed pharmaceutical mega-mergers between Wyeth and Pfizer Inc, as well as between Schering-Plough Corp and Merck & Co. The commission is also looking into whether Intel Corp cut prices for buyers who refused to do business with rival Advanced Micro Devices.
The FTC recently surprised the antitrust world by deciding to investigate a 2008 merger in which Carilion Clinic, a Virginia-based healthcare company, bought two Roanoke outpatient clinics. The company agreed to sell them.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Diane Bartz; Editing by Eric Beech)
