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Date: Fri, 08 Jul 2011 04:05:17 -0700
From: "GMWatch" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: GMW: Suckerpunched on Anti-Trust
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1.What Happens to Antitrust Inquiry?
2.Why Christine Varney Left the Justice Department:
Suckerpunched on Anti-Trust

EXTRACTS: Last year, Varney [Obama's Anti-Trust chief] and Secretary of Ag=
riculture Tom Vilsack hosted a series of workshops around the country to=
 discuss competition and regulatory issues faced by the agriculture indust=
ry...  Nothing has yet come of those hearings.=20

"I was told by people they were definitely going after Monsanto. And nothi=
ng has happened. She wanted to go after Monsanto and she was stopped. That=
's my feeling. It's been two years. They have had plenty of time to haul=
 them into court."

"The people they promised to go after and hang high are being shaken down=
 to provide the billion dollar Obama campaign fund. Varney was shut down=
 by Obama's political machine."=20

"They raised our hopes and nothing happened. I feel sucker punched."
---
---
1.What Happens to Antitrust Inquiry?
Daily Yonder, 7 July 2011
http://www.dailyyonder.com/thursday-roundup-what-happens-antitrust-inquiry=
/2011/07/07/3417

The Obama administration's top antitrust officer, Christine Varney, is ste=
pping down after two and a half years. She will join a large Washington,=
 D.C., law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore.=20

What does that have to do with rural America? Plenty.

Last year, Varney and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack hosted a series=
 of workshops around the country to talk about anti-trust problems in the=
 food business. Thousands turned out for discussions that looked at concen=
tration in the seed business, among meat processors, in the chicken indust=
ry and among food retailers. Nothing has yet come of those hearings.=20

"She played a high profile role in the highly publicized inter-departmenta=
l agriculture workshops, but so far very little has emerged from the effor=
t," said Albert Foer at the American Antitrust Institute.

Fred Stokes of the Organization for Competitive Markets said Vilsack and=
 Varney were "totally sincere" in their intention, but that the effort was=
 stymied by the demands of the election season. "The people they promised=
 to go after and hang high are being shaken down to provide the billion do=
llar Obama campaign fund," Stokes told Counterpunch. "Varney was shut down=
 by Obama's political machine."=20

"Varney was totally sincere when she came into office," Stokes said. "But=
 she had the rug pulled out from under her."

"It is most likely that Christine Varney is leaving in total frustration=
 with being hampered from doing from what she sincerely intended to do =E2=
=80=93 curbing the market abuses that are putting independent family farme=
rs and ranchers out of business and savaging rural America," Stokes said.=
=20

"I'm from Mississippi," Stokes said. "I endured ridicule and scorn for my=
 unabashedly pro Obama administration stance and politics down here. These=
 were going to be finally the folks who were going to turn things around=
 and we were going to reverse the destruction of rural America. It hasn't=
 happened."

"I was told by people they were definitely going after Monsanto," Stokes=
 said. "And nothing has happened. She wanted to go after Monsanto and she=
 was stopped. That's my feeling. It's been two years. They have had plenty=
 of time to haul them into court."

"They raised our hopes and nothing happened," Stokes said. "I feel sucker=
 punched."
---
---
2.Why Christine Varney Left the Justice Department
Suckerpunched on Anti-Trust
RUSSELL MOKHIBER
Counterpunch, July 7 2011
http://counterpunch.org/mokhiber07072011.html

Christine Varney is leaving the Antitrust Division.

And going to Cravath Swaine & Moore in New York.

"There is no doubt that her tireless work helped protect consumers and bus=
inesses from anti-competitive conduct and preserved competition in America=
's economy," Attorney General Eric Holder said yesterday.

But others were less favorable about Varney's tenure at the Antitrust Divi=
sion.

Albert Foer at the American Antitrust Institute gave Varney an "I" for inc=
omplete.

"Christine Varney began the process of turning around a tanker ship that=
 was going down," Foer told me. "She pointed it in a better direction but=
 with judicial winds blowing strong the wrong way, her captaincy failed to=
 accomplish all we had hoped for it."

"The rhetoric and appointments were generally strong, but an evaluation wi=
ll have to wait until we know whether her conduct-oriented, rather than st=
ructure-oriented, remedies in major merger cases will preserve competition=
 and we will also have to see what cases are in the works and have not yet=
 been revealed," Foer said. "The Bush Administration probably would have=
 let these mergers go through without conditions. But the problem is we ar=
en't sure her conditions will make a difference."

"She gets credit for revoking the Bush Administration's weak document on=
 monopoly, but has done little to re-establish anti-monopoly enforcement.=
 She brought several cases that have potential to be important, but we don=
't know how they will turn out. She oversaw a clarification and mild moder=
nization of the horizontal merger guidelines, but it is too soon to know=
 whether they will have a significant impact."

"She brought cartel cases, but so did predecessors. She played a high prof=
ile role in the highly publicized inter-departmental agriculture workshops=
, but so far very little has emerged from the effort. She apparently playe=
d no role during the banking crisis. Her efforts in the international aren=
a were generally positive, though there was a tense period with the EU ove=
r a merger and a tense period with the FTC that took two to tango but whic=
h did not help the public image of the overall antitrust effort. All in al=
l, the report card says 'incomplete.'"

Fred Stokes of the Organization for Competitive Markets was less forgiving=
 than Foer.

Last year, Varney and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack hosted a series=
 of workshops around the country to discuss competition and regulatory iss=
ues faced by the agriculture industry.

More than 4,000 attendees attended workshops in Ankeny, Iowa, Normal, Alab=
ama, Madison, Wisconsin, Fort Collins, Colorado and Washington, D.C.

Stokes believes that Varney and Vilsack were "totally sincere" when they=
 promised action against the big agribusiness corporations.

And he says he believes the reason they were unable to take action =E2=80=
=93 to fulfill their promises =E2=80=93 was because they were shut down by=
 the Obama political machine.

"The people they promised to go after and hang high are being shaken down=
 to provide the billion dollar Obama campaign fund," Stokes said. "Varney=
 was shut down by Obama's political machine."

"Varney was totally sincere when she came into office," Stokes said. "But=
 she had the rug pulled out from under her."

"It is most likely that Christine Varney is leaving in total frustration=
 with being hampered from doing from what she sincerely intended to do =E2=
=80=93 curbing the market abuses that are putting independent family farme=
rs and ranchers out of business and savaging rural America," Stokes said.

"When she came into office, she was on fire," Stokes said. "She made prono=
uncements against Dean Foods, against Monsanto, against the big meat packe=
rs. But she did nothing about it."

"At the poultry workshop in Alabama last year in June 2010, they had proba=
bly 50 contract poultry producers who lined up. They told about all the th=
ings that were being done to them. And many of them said at the end that=
 it is likely that their contracts will be terminated."

"Christine Varney stood up and said =E2=80=93 here is my card with my dire=
ct number, if they do anything like that, you call me. She raised so many=
 eyebrows. At workshop after workshop, she stood up for the farmers."

"But in response, they have done nothing, absolutely nothing. They had fiv=
e workshops across the country. She stood up and made fiery speeches at ev=
ery one of them. And yet nothing has happened."

How does Stokes know that she wanted to do the right thing but was shut do=
wn by the political apparatus?

"I am 77 years old," Stokes said. "I have acquired ability to judge people=
 pretty good. She and Secretary Vilsack were absolutely sincere. Some of=
 the big targets that they were after are now being shaken down for a bill=
ion dollar campaign fund."

"I'm from Mississippi," Stokes said. "I endured ridicule and scorn for my=
 unabashedly pro Obama administration stance and politics down here. These=
 were going to be finally the folks who were going to turn things around=
 and we were going to reverse the destruction of rural America. It hasn't=
 happened."

"I was told by people they were definitely going after Monsanto," Stokes=
 said. "And nothing has happened. She wanted to go after Monsanto and she=
 was stopped. That's my feeling. It's been two years. They have had plenty=
 of time to haul them into court."

"They raised our hopes and nothing happened," Stokes said. "I feel sucker=
 punched."

Russell Mokhiber edits the Corporate Crime Reporter.

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