Digital Trends

Concerns over the FTC head's impartiality in reviewing the Google-DoubleClick case were unfounded, she claims.

As if the Federal Trade Commission’s review of Google’s $3.1-billion DoubleClick acquisition weren’t dramatic enough given the companies and money involved, a squabble between the FTC head Deborah Platt Majoras and groups calling for her to step down in the case has made matters even more interesting.

The Electronics Privacy Information Center and Center for Digital Democracy originally called for Majoras to recuse herself from the case last week (PDF), citing a remote connection to the case that could bias her decision. According to the groups, Majoras’ husband was an equity partner in a law firm that had represented DoubleClick in the past, Jones Day.

Majoras, however, declined the request, and called it factually flawed. In a statement issued on Friday, she pointed out that her husband switched to a non-equity partnership with Jones Day in 2006, meaning he no longer has an interest in the company’s income because his own income isn’t tied to it.

An official charged with monitoring the FTC’s ethics determined that the relationship was not a conflict of interest, and encouraged Majoras to participate.