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February 21, 2011The Hon. John L. MicaChairmanCommittee on Transportation and InfrastructureU.S. House of Representatives2165 Rayburn House Office BuildingWashington, DC 20515Re: H.R. 690 (FTC/NGA facility consolidation)Dear Mr. Chairman,I was interested to learn of the Committee’s efforts to relocate the FederalTrade Commission in an effort to save taxpayer funds. I commend you fortaking an interest in FTC matters, and I write today to offer additionalsupport for your efforts to pass H.R. 690.Having studied FTC operations for nearly a decade, I am intimately fa-miliar with the Commission’s waste of taxpayer funds. Of particular rele-vance to H.R. 690 is the FTC’s conduct of administrative trials. In theCommission’s letter to you and Ranking Member Rahall, Chairman Lei-bowitz and his colleagues insist relocation would force the Commission to“build new courtrooms for conducting adjudications.” This is not necessar-ily the case. For one thing, few FTC matters proceed to trial given theCommission’s substantial legal and financial advantages over respon-dents, many of whom are individuals and small businesses who lack ade-quate counsel. I can’t recall any point in recent history where the Com-mission is actively “trying” more than a couple of cases. Indeed, the Com-mission never bothered to replace an administrative law judge who re-tired several years ago, leaving the agency with a single ALJ.More to the point, there is, I believe, no need for the FTC to have anydedicated courtroom facility in Washington, DC whatsoever. Few FTCcases deal with matters arising from events in the District of Columbia.Most involve individuals and businesses in other parts of the country. Forexample, the FTC is preparing to try two cases right now that involveparties in California and North Carolina, respectively. In both cases, re-spondents asked the Commission to relocate trials to their home states — 
 
primarily to save the majority of witnesses the time and expense of traveling to Washington. The Commission denied both motions, citing in-convenience to the Commission itself. As is often the case, the FTC placesits own comfort ahead of taxpayers and even basic norms of due process.There is no reason FTC rules could not be amended to provide that ad-ministrative trials should be held in a respondents’ home state. Thiswould promote greater efficiency in FTC trial preparation while sparing
The National AntitrustHall of Fame
S.M. Oliva, DirectorTel.: (434) 253-1179Fax: (434) 382-0688director@antitrusthall.com www.antitrusthall.comTwitter: @antitrusthall
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