ADMINISTRATION SAID LAX ON ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT
A group of state officials and a key
U.S. senator said a corporate merger wave was harming the
economy and blamed the Reagan administration for laxness in
enforcing the federal antitrust laws.
    Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, the Ohio Democrat who chairs the
Senate Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Subcommittee, also
cautioned the Department of Justice (DOJ) to comply with his
request for a listing of each case since 1980 in which
department officials had rejected a staff recommendation to
prosecute a suspected antitrust violation.
    Metzenbaum had asked for the data by Monday, but the DOJ
failed to meet the deadline and later hinted it might refuse to
comply.
    Acting Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Charles
Rule defended the administration's record on antitrust
enforcement and told the panel at today's hearing that the
department was in the process of preparing a response to
Metzenbaum's request.
    "We have nothing to hide, but we have to be concerned about
our institutional interests," Rule said. He provided no
explanation of what those interests were.
    Metzenbaum said he had scheduled the hearings and requested
the data out of concern "that this administration has abandoned
the nation's historical commitment to effective antitrust
enforcement."
    "The green light is on," he said. "Merger mania is rampant
in this country...and it is not serving us well."
    Rule countered that the low inflation and interest rates
and the continuing economic expansion meant the
administration's policies were working well.
    He said simply looking at the number of challenges filed
against pending mergers was misleading because there was no
reason to believe that a fixed proportion of all mergers were
anticompetitive.
    "If you look at the individual cases rather than the
statistics, you will see that we are appropriately enforcing
the antitrust laws," Rule said.
    Metzenbaum's view, however, was bolstered by the National
Association of Attorneys General, a group of top state law
enforcement officials.
    "The federal assault on antitrust has been comprehensive,"
Robert Abrams, attorney general of New York and chairman of the
group's antitrust committee, told the panel.
    "The reduction in enforcement has been exacerbated by
federal attempts to prevent both state attorneys general and
private parties from enforcing the law in accordance with its
clear meaning and Supreme Court interpretations," Abrams said.
    The group has drafted its own merger guidelines to bring
uniformity to the attorney generals' efforts to enforce the
laws at the state level.
 Reuter
