Coalition Letter: Request for Investigation of the FTC’s Practice of Counting “Zombie Votes”

In light of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) reliance on "zombie votes" cast months ago via email by the current director of the CFPB, today we led a coalition of more than two dozen in sending a letter to lawmakers and the agency's Inspector General requesting an investigation.

December 2, 2021

Andrew Katsaros
 Inspector General, Federal Trade Commission

 The Honorable Maria Cantwell
 Chair, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
 
 The Honorable Roger Wicker
 Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
 
 The Honorable Gary C. Peters
 Chair, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
 
 The Honorable Rob Portman
 Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
 
 The Honorable Frank Pallone
 Chair, House Committee on Energy and Commerce
 
 The Honorable Cathy McMorris Rodgers
 Ranking Member, House Committee on Energy and Commerce

The Honorable Carolyn B. Maloney
 Chair, House Committee on Oversight and Reform
 
 The Honorable James Comer
 Ranking Member, House Committee on Oversight and Reform

Re: Request for Investigation of the Federal Trade Commission’s Practice of Counting “Zombie Votes”
 
 Dear Inspector General Katsaros; Senators Cantwell, Peters, Wicker and Portman; and Representatives Pallone, Rodgers, Maloney, and Comer,

We, the undersigned, write to you regarding the Federal Trade Commission’s use of votes cast by departed-Commissioner Rohit Chopra by e-mail from October 1, 2021 to October 8, 2021. We request an investigation into both this practice and the Commission’s lack of transparency.
 
 Nearly one month ago, Politico reported that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held on to “as many as 20 votes that former Democratic Commissioner Rohit Chopra cast by email on Oct. 8—his last day at the agency—that remain active even after his departure.”[1] The FTC claims that former-Commissioner Chopra’s votes continued to be valid two months after Chopra’s departure from the FTC following his Sept. 30, 2021 confirmation by the U.S. Senate to become Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).[2]
 
 To date, the entirety of the votes, the underlying proposals, and the legal basis from which the FTC apparently derives this authority—beyond compliance with the FTC’s previously unknown internal voting rules—remain unclear and undisclosed to the public.
 
 Using the votes of Commissioners who have departed from their roles at the FTC and concealing it from the public raises serious concerns regarding transparency and accountability. We therefore seek an investigation to determine the following: 1.) the legal basis for this practice, beyond compliance with internal voting rules; 2.) whether the practice has previously been used, when it was used, and, specifically, if it has been used to break ties; and 3.) information relating to each of the underlying proposals, votes, and relevant motions as well as the FTC's rationale for concealing these specific matters from public disclosure.
 
 Thank you for your attention to this matter.
 
 Sincerely,

Ashley Baker
 Director of Public Policy
 The Committee for Justice
 
 Brandon Arnold
 Executive Vice President
 National Taxpayers Union
 
 Saulius “Saul” Anuzis
 President
 60 Plus Association
 
 Robert H. Bork, Jr.
 President
 The Bork Foundation
 
 Ralph Benko
 Chairman
 The Capitalist League
 
 Garrett Bess
 Vice President
 Heritage Action
 
 Adam Brandon
 President
 FreedomWorks
 
 Maureen Blum
 President
 Strategic Coalitions & Initiatives
 
 James Edwards
 Executive Director
 Conservatives for Property Rights
 
 Theodore A. Gebhard
 Former Senior FTC Attorney
 Office of Policy & Evaluation
 
 Tom Hebert
 Executive Director
 Open Competition Center
 
 Curt Levey
 President
 The Committee for Justice
 
 James L. Martin
 Founder/Chairman
 60 Plus Association
 
 Katie McAuliffe
 Executive Director
 Digital Liberty
 
 Iain Murray
 Vice President and Senior Fellow
 Competitive Enterprise Institute
 
 Richard Manning
 President
 Americans for Limited Government
 
 Doug McCullough
 Director
 Lone Star Policy Institute
 
 Jessica Melugin
 Director, Center for Technology and Innovation
 Competitive Enterprise Institute
 
 Seton Motley
 President
 Less Government
 
 Grover Norquist
 President
 Americans for Tax Reform
 
 Yaël Ossowski
 Deputy Director
 Consumer Choice Center
 
 Krisztina Pusok
 Director
 American Consumer Institute
 
 Timothy Sandefur
 Vice President for Litigation
 Goldwater Institute
 
 Tom Schatz
 President
 Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
 
 Dan Schneider
 Executive Vice President
 The American Conservative Union
 
 David Williams
 President
 Taxpayers Protection Alliance

NOTE: Organizations listed for identification purposes only.

 [1]See Leah Nylan. “‘Zombies’ to the rescue: The arcane voting rule that could save Dems’ antitrust agenda.” Politico. (November 8, 2021), available at: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/08/voting-rule-democrats-antitrust-519767.
 [2]Id.