Adler to Take Over as Acting CPSC Chairman on Oct. 1
Commissioner Robert Adler will take over as acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Oct. 1, a CPSC spokesman confirmed. Adler, who was elected vice chairman by commission vote on Sept. 13 but will head CPSC until a new chairman is confirmed in the Senate, will replace current Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle, whose term on the commission ends Oct. 27.
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The election of Adler, a Democrat, is a “surprising choice for a Republic majority Commission,” law firm Mintz Levin said in a blog post. Once Buerkle ends her term, CPSC will have two Republican and two Democratic commissioners, ending CPSC’s current Republican majority “less than a year after it began,” Mintz said.
Buerkle, who voted in favor of elevating Adler to acting chairman, said her decision was based on Adler’s superior experience. “As the agency now transitions to a new vice-chairman who will become acting chairman on October 1, I think it is important that the temporary caretaker for the agency be the most experienced, most senior commissioner who has previously served in this role,” she said in a statement released following the vote. “This interim selection will keep the agency on course while the White House determines and nominates a new candidate for chairman. Consumer protection is not political.”
Buerkle had been nominated as permanent chairman in January (see 1901220020), but withdrew her nomination in June citing new opportunities and a desire to spend more time with her family. “The time has come to pursue new opportunities that will allow me to continue my life’s work of advocacy and public service as well as spend more time with my six children and eighteen grandchildren,” she had said in a statement.