I was pleased to see the announcement yesterday afternoon by FTC Chairman Joseph Simons that the FTC has approved the appointment of Andrew Smith to serve as Director of the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, beginning next week.

As I indicated in my prior blog post, I have known Andrew for many years going back to his tenure at the FTC earlier in his career and have always felt that Andrew was a very fair-minded attorney who studiously called the shots as he saw them.  In addition to bringing his excellent lawyering skills to the FTC, I am confident that Andrew will continue to take an even-handed approach in his new leadership role.

Andrew’s appointment was approved by a 3-2 vote, with both Democratic commissioners, Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Slaughter, voting against his appointment.