The CPSC is one of America's smallest, but most important safety agencies. It has jurisdiction over 15,000 different consumer products, from escalators to stoves to toys and other children's products. If defective, many of the products it regulates pose the threat of greatest harm to consumers least able to help themselves: children and the elderly. It is critical that the CPSC hold manufacturers of dangerous products accountable. Yet NAM, run on a day-to-day basis by its EVP Michael Baroody, has led the fight to over the years to keep the CPSC's budget low and to limit its power to recall or even conduct investigations of dangerous products. In such a difficult regulatory environment, only a chair willing to use all the limited regulatory tools at his or her disposal -- while also standing on a bully pulpit -- can hope to protect the public effectively.

Yet Baroody's lack of statutory qualifications as a safety expert and his history as an opponent of consumer laws suggest that he would instead likely move to dismantle the agency's already limited authority to protect consumers.

-- Baroody led NAM's unsuccessful opposition to NYPIRG's and fire fighter organizations' historic campaign to enact fire-safe cigarette legislation, now emulated by nearly ten states. That product safety legislation is expected to save hundreds of lives/year and billions of dollars/year in property damage reductions as it expands nationwide.
-- Baroody led NAM's successful opposition to Clinton-era worker safety ergonomics rules that had been backed by solid science.
-- NAM's CPSC Coalition -- comprised of companies under the agencies' jurisdiction, many of which have been fined for violations -- has successfully defeated efforts by Rep. Schakowsky (IL) and other champions to improve the CPSC's authority and increase its funding. NAM's Coalition recommends weakening the agency's powers further.

Simply, Baroody is the wrong person for the job of protecting the American public from unsafe products.