Mercatus Center Economist
Appears
Likely Nominee for Director of
OIRA
Susan Dudley, an economist with the conservative
Mercatus
Center at George Mason University, appears to be the
Bush
administration's choice to head the Office of Information
and
Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and
Budget, industry sources
told BNA July 13.
While no official announcement has come from the
White
House, OMB Director Rob Portman confirmed that "paperwork
has been
sent" on a nominee during a recent interview with
BNA.
Dudley's
nomination is now proceeding through a background
check and political
clearance, a senior officer at the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce with direct
knowledge of the selection
process told BNA July 13.
Dudley, who
has directed the Mercatus Center's regulatory
studies program since 2003, is
likely to face stiff
opposition from environmental groups and other
public
interest advocates who cite Dudley's extensive work
questioning the
regulatory benefit of certain health,
safety, and environmental
regulations.
She would replace John Graham, who directed OIRA since
the
start of the Bush administration and left the position
earlier this
year to become dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate
School in Santa Monica,
Calif. OIRA, established during the
Reagan administration, reviews all major
regulations
promulgated by federal agencies and departments.
The
OIRA slot is currently filled on an acting basis by
Steven D. Aitken, OMB's
deputy general counsel. Aitken
succeeded Donald Arbuckle, OIRA's former
deputy director, as
acting director. Arbuckle retired from the agency in
June.
At the Mercatus Center, Dudley has written on the costs
to
society of federal regulations, the growth of regulatory
staffing
during the Bush administration, "Defining What to
Regulate," and
"Anticompetitive Barriers to E-Rulemaking,"
among other subjects. She also
serves as an adjunct
professor at George Mason School of Law, where she
teaches
courses in regulation.
Before joining the Mercatus Center
as a senior research
fellow in 1999, Dudley worked at Economists Inc.,
a
Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm from 1991-1998 where
she served
as vice president and director of environmental
analysis, applying financial
and economic concepts to
environmental and energy issues. She also has
prior
experience at OMB, reviewing health, safety and
environmental
regulations from 1985 to
1989.
Groups Mobilize Against Nomination
In anticipation of Dudley's
expected nomination,
environmental groups are already taking steps to line
up
opposition against her. "If they name Dudley to that job, it
will be
like throwing up a lightening rod--it will be
enormously controversial," said
Frank O'Donnell, president
of the advocacy group Clean Air Watch. He said
groups have
begun contacting Senate Democrats about Dudley in hopes
of
scuttling her confirmation on the Senate floor.
"She would have
a record people could point to as one more
example of the Bush administration
favoring industry over
the public's health and safety," O'Donnell said,
noting
Dudley had opposed EPA's proposed regulations against
smog,
low-sulphur gasoline, and arsenic limits in drinking
water.
In her 1997 congressional testimony opposing EPA's
proposed
ozone standards, for example, Dudley cited a study stating
that
the "leading cause of asthma by far was ... proteins in
the droppings and
carcasses of the German cockroach."
To avoid a confirmation battle in
the Senate, O'Donnell
predicted that the White House might decide to give
Dudley a
recess appointment when Congress goes out in August.
Jim
Tozzi, a former director of OIRA during the Reagan
administration who now
heads the conservative Center for
Regulatory Effectiveness, agreed that
Dudley could generate
such opposition that a recess appointment was
"a
possibility."
Colleagues Cite Dudley's Qualifications
Dudley's colleagues and
former supervisors, in contrast,
sing her praise. "She's a terrific
candidate," said James
Miller, who served as OMB's director from 1985-1988,
and is
familiar with Dudley's work at OIRA during the same
time
period.
"The reason she's qualified is because of having
been
there," Miller said. "Should she be nominated, she knows
what would
be expected of her at OIRA," Miller said.
"When you have these big
responsibilities, you're working on
capital you already have, you don't have
time to study up,"
he added, noting that Dudley had spent time "digging
deeper"
into regulatory issues dealt with by OIRA during her time
with the
Mercatus Center.
Jerry Ellig, a senior research fellow at the
Mercatus Center
who has worked with Dudley, disputed charges that she had
a
pre-set disposition against government regulatory
activity.
"Anybody who believes she's going to try to read the
right
answer off a cost-benefit chart is mistaken," he said. "She
believes
that's an important piece of information, but it's
not a substitute for good
judgment."
Before joining Economist Inc, from 1989 to 1991 Dudley
was
economic adviser to a commissioner at the Commodity Futures
Trading
Commission, and directed the transition team for the
assistant secretary of
the Office of Environment, Safety,
and Health at the Department of
Energy.
She holds an M.S. degree from the Sloan School of
Management
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
an
undergraduate degree in resource economics from the
University of
Massachusetts. (Embedded image moved to file:
pic18716.gif)End of article
graphic
By Ralph
Lindeman
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