Gene Kimmelman, frequent critic of media concentration and cable prices, has been named special counsel for competition policy at the Justice Department. His title will be chief counsel for competition policy and intergovernmental relations.
Kimmelman was most recently VP for federal and international affairs at Consumer's Union. He has been a frequent witness at Hill hearings on competition.
During the early 1990's, Kimmelman was chief counsel and staff director for the antitrust subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He was one of a half-dozen appointments in what Justice billed as its new antitrust senior leadership team. The team includes another name familiar in some communications circles--Philip Weiser, newly named deputy assistant attorney general for international policy and appellate matters.
Weiser, who has been a professor and associate dean at the University of Colorado, was the lead member of the Obama transition team that vetted the Federal Trade Commission, and was special counsel to Cablevision Systems.
Christine Varney, assistant attorney general in charge of the antitrust division, pledged the new crew would "aggressively pursue" antitrust enforcement "in order to protect American consumers from anticompetitive harm."
