President Trump announced yesterday his intent to nominate Jones Day partner Dana Baiocco to the position of Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for a 7-year term starting next month. She will replace Obama-appointed Commissioner Marietta Robinson. As we had predicted, the makeup of the CPSC will shift from a 3-2 Democratic majority to a 3-2 Republican majority if Baiocco is confirmed. Expect to see less and fewer penalties under a Republican-majority Commission with fewer opponents to Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle’s philosophy of deregulation.
Here is the text of the White House press release issued yesterday:
Dana Baiocco of Ohio to be Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission for a 7-year term beginning October 27, 2017. Ms. Baiocco was born and raised in Yorkville, Ohio. She graduated from Ohio University in 1998 [sic] and from Duquesne University School of Law in 1997, cum laude. She served as a federal judicial law clerk to The Honorable Gustave Diamond, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, from 1996-1998. Ms. Baiocco joined the law firm of Jones Day in 1998 in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania office, and became a partner [in] 2007. She was one of the founding partners of Jones Day’s Boston office, which opened in 2011. She is a member of the Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Bar Associations, served as the chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates from 2009 to 2011 and also served on its board of governors. She is also a member of the Boston Bar Association. She currently lives in Boston with her husband, Andrew F. Susko and her daughter, Ava Bruening.