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,ag n,g sp r ed battle i or 'survivai 1126 Overshadowed by flashy young Ralph 7/8/7z Nader activists, outgunned by highly NATIONAL paid industry lobbyists, undcrfinanced louRNat by i~ disparate array of member or- @~9~ ganizafions and plagued by the after- effects of a rec~nt internal dispute, the Consumer Federation of Amcfiqa. is in a battle for its own survival. Th~ fcdcra~ion's executive dircclor, Erma Ang~vinc, in a bleak moment curly lhis year admitted to doubis about, wh~thcr the organization could last another year. ............. At the fcdcration's annual mecb Federation of A_merica ing in January, Mrs. Angevine pre- dicted that the "CFA will continue as a "holding action' or it will quietly die" unless it gets substantial addi- tional funds to expand its staff and in- crease the services offered to member organizations. She had, in that moment of pes- simista, painted the outlook darker - ---than it really was, Mrs._~Angevin¢ now Esther Petersen addressing the 1972 Consumer Assembly says. In part, the rema'rks served a~ -the- original--56 organizations that_ _ _ Sen. Charles_H.. Percy, R-IlL, who a prod to persuade the delegates to the made up the federation when it was has been a key parti~ip~fit-i6 the de: meeting to approve a proposed in- launched to a current total of 196. bate over the consumer protection crease in thc dues structure. (Membership is not open to individ- agency legislation in his role as rank- But Mrs. Angcvine's remarks were uals.) ThaL grov, th has s~ra~ncd the ':.-.g mim.,r[ty member of the Senate. not all hyperbole. The federation has capabilities of a miniscule staff and Government Operations Subcommit- bccn engulfed by genuinely hard times, stretched a shoestring budget to the tee on Executive Reorganization and Because it is the one organization that breaking point. Government Research, said in an in- attempts to" bridge all elements of the The CFA, which is based in Wash- terview that "the CFA has become a consumer movement, its fortunes are ington, is the largest consumer or- benevolent gadfly whose sting is re- tied to the sense of cohesion in the ganization in the country. Its literature sported by all who have felt it." movement. And that cohesion is under claims that, through its panoply of Pulley problems: That sting, however, heavy stress. Signs of trouble abound, national, regional, state and local has had little effect on the-shape and Them was a serious split in the move- constituent groups, it represents some thrust of the President's economic meat over legislation pending in Con- 30 million consumers, stabilization program, the most pro- gress (HR 10835 and S 1177) to estab- Yet it has only three full-time staff found among the issues of current con- lish an independent consumer protcc- members: the executive director, a corn to consumer groups. lion agency. And The Wail Stre#t public information o~cer and a clerk- The CFA has protested in vain Journal recently (May 12) proclaimed: typist, its annual budgets-T75,000 against what its members regard as "Consumerism fades as a political last year, $90,000 this year-are ex- inequities in the program. It has issued cause." That conclusion was based ceedingly small by the standards of numerous highly critical public state- on a legislative assessment which most of the broad-gauged Washington meats that have made one basic point: showed most of the pending pro- lobbying groups with which it ordi- that wages are controlled too tightly consumer bills bogged down on Capi- narily butts heads, and prices too loosely. The same corn- tel Hill. Despite its thin budgets, the CFA plaint is made by organized labor, Yet, in the brief period since the has slipped into tbc red. it ran a $19,- which constitutes a largo bloc within CFA was organized in late 1967. the 000 deficit'last year. And even though the federation's membership. organization has established itself as the delegates at the January meeting Consumer organizations, the CFA an important and curiously success- ultimately approved a dues increase, a has complained, bad little to say about ful advocate for the consumer in $1,500 deficit is projectcd this year. the shape of Phase 2 controls during Washington, particularly on the Hill. Nevertheless, the CFA has had pal- the planning stage. Don S. Willner, Growing pains: The federation's pro- pubic influence on Capitol Hill. And. then CFA's president, was among a sent plight is. in part, the result of until quite recently, it has had a good group of consumer organizatiou of- its success, pipeline to the White ltouse Office ficials who met ~ith President Nixon CFA membership has grown from of Consumer Affairs headed by Vir- last Sept. 21 to discuss Phase 2. But Walterene Swanston, nov.. a free- ginia H. Knauer and to some of the the consumer input went little beyond regulatory agencies, it is the virtually (hat. And consumer groups have had lance writer, has been a reporter unanimous view of close observers of no effective voice at all in the ad- ler The Evening Star and for - WETA's Newsroom program in CFA that the main reaso.n I'or ils in- ministration ofcontrols. Washington, fluenc~ is Mrs. Angcvine's energy and The CFA urged svveral times't~at knowledge of the legislative process, the President name a representative TI54502445

of organized consumers to the Price Commission. When Marina yon Neu- mann Whitman left the commission to join the Council of Economic Advisers early this year, the federa- tion touted CFA's current president, Helen E. Nelson, to succeed her... But the suggestions wcre ignored. At their annual meeting in January, which was held in Washington, CFA delegates approved a resolution that dismissed the wage-price program as a failure and recommended "an eco- tion to the top office at the most recent annual meeting. Mrs. Nelson, 58, was consumer counsel for Ihe state of California from 1959 to 1968. Membership: The fedemtion's most notable feature is the unlikely col- lection of organizations that belong to it, The membership includes rural electric cooperatives, public power associations, farm groups such as the National Grange, community aclion groups, senior citizen groups, labor unions and consumer groups. This feature has been a source of heroic policy halt_ing inequitable con- trol of wages and endompassihg tax beth-the federation's-- strengths and- reform, ceilings on profits and divi- dends, lower interest rates, control of prices in 'regulated industries,' full enforcement of price ceilings and protection against the many methods of circumventing economic restraints." Goals: Its troubles have nol abated the CFA's ambitions. The delegates at the weaknesses. Finding the common de- nominator has sometimes been dif- ficult and schisms have not been un- common within the federation. But when the differences are resolved and the federation takes a stand, the breadth of its membership ordinarily makes it difficult for politicians to Consumer-group members have one vote on policy matters for each 100 of their members, up to a maxi- mum of 10 votes. They pay a mini- mum of $50 in dues. The maximum is $365. Supporting-group members, no mat- ter how large their memberships, have only one vote apiece. And the dues contribution is a matter for negotiation between the CFA board and the sup- porting group. Finances: Last year, fully half of CFA's member groups paid the mini- - mum in dues,, which then was $25._ A total of 544,879 was paid to the CFA in dues last year. And of that amount, trade union members paid $16,435, electric and power coopera- tives paid $14,235 and other national groups paid $13,750. Thirteen groups were responsible last year for 75 per cent of the dues 1127 7/8/72 NA'/IONAL IOURNAL (~)1972 annual meeting endorsed a_wide as- sortment of specific legislative pro- posals that covered truth in labeling, fair credit billing, strong fish in- spection and funds f,r representation of consumers in regulatory agency proceedings. They also vowed CFA opposition to pending measures in Congress to curtail the authority of the Federal Trade Commission. After the annual meeting, the fed- eration's board of directors speci- fied the CFA's basic legislative priori- ties for 1972. They included aut.horiza- tion for: =a national no-fault auto insurance system; = product-warranty standards; eclass-action lawsuits by consumers; = a national health security program; • an independent consumer protection agency; • an independent product safety agen- cy. Structure The 37-member board governs the CFA between annual meetings. It consists of the president, the five vice presidents, the secretary-treasurer and 30 directors, all drawn from CFA affiliates. Officers serve one-year terms and directors serve three years. The board meets four times a year. The executive committee, ghieh has 12 members including the seven officers, meets once a month. The current president of the CFA, Mrs. Nelson. is director of the Center for Consumer Affairs at the Universily of Wiu.-onsin--Milwaukee. She was a CFA vice president before her elec- ignore it. contributions. Five of these 13 groups The-CFA, said-Mrs. Angevine in a--had 10 votes each. The--remaining .... report to the 1971 annual meeting, "has thrived despite-or perhaps be- cause of-the diversity among its member organizations....When CFA does speak, it speaks for the generality of its members from the firm founda- tion of policy that these members have adopted at our annual meetings." ' About three-fourths of the member- ship is made up of consumer groups. ..The rest are supporting groups-de- fined as those wi.th a strong but see- ondary interest in consumer issues. The supporting groups, however, pay the bulk of CFA's bills. To keep the supporting groups-- which are mainly large national or- ganizations-from dominating the federation, consumer-group members have more voting power than support- ing-group members. [.'~.e~ ~"v"~:"ar'.:" "~S~-:- :. "~ Helen E. Nelson eight had one vote each. Dues contributions accounted for some 60 per cent of the CFA's budget last year. Proceeds from the Distin- guished Awards Dinner, which CFA sponsors every year, and lees paid by delegates to the annual forum on consumer issues that it sponsors, Con- sumer Assembly, accounted for most of the remainder. The balance was financed out of CFA's reserve fund. The budget supports the Washing- ton headquarters staff and pays for official memos and fact sheets to mem- bers, a monthly newsletter, research activities on consumer issues, the CFA president's travel and telephone expenses, preparation of testimony and legal briefs by CFA's stable of part-time attorneys and the Consumer Assembly. T154502446

power have any intention of changing thclr ways. Therefore. the force of public opinion must compel CFA, as a consumer voice, to follow a more opcn, honest, forthright and rcspon- sible path. " " "The basic issue is the integrity of the consumer voice and the con- sumer movement. If all levels of busi- ness, government and the public do not respect us for our absolute inte- grity, our complete trustworthiness-- -then all the--other so-called assets (lobbying power and skill, lavish and smart press releases, elaborate recep- tions and assemblies) are not worth a nickel." McEwen concluded: "Silence in or- der not to rock the boat is the or- ganization's usual advice. After a while, however, such silence becomes tionwide Corp. of Columbus, Ohio. The latter, a holding company, has a subsidiary, Heritage Securities Inc., which is the investment adviser and distributor for two mutual runds, the MIF Fund and the MIF Growth Fund, {Nationwide made a dues con- tribution to CFA" last )'ear of $2,500. It was tile fourth largest contributor.) Nationwide has long been active in the cooperative movement which pro- motes consumer ownership of busi- nesses. It iS 0~_ofthe largest members of the Cooperative Leagu~ 0F(he USA --itself a CFA member, (Mrs. Ange- vine wus on the league staff for nine years.) ./ ",...-.., • :-~ . cowardice and treason to one's self," - -Closed circlet For McEwen, the Wash-_ ington office and Erma Angevine are the villains in the piece. In a recent National Journal inter- view. he described the CFA as ate or- ganization that "operates as a closed circle. It's the Washington office against the rest of us in the state and local organizations." The Washington staff, he said. "can dominate the or- ganizalion by choosing what to em- phasize or de-emphasize. "1 had trouble with the Wash- ington staff all during my year as president." MeEwen recalled 'that he had wanted to line up the CFA behind leg- islation then pending in Congress to provide protection Io investors in mutual funds. But Mrs. Angevine. he' said, had made other plans that ran counter both to his wishes and to those of a policy committee of the CFA hoard headed by former Rep. (1937-47) Jerry Voorhis, D-Calif., then a CFA vice president. "'1 found that the executive direc- tor (Mrs. Angevine) had. without my knowledge, made a private deal with one of the member organizations not to take any stand," McEwen said. A bill providing for additional limited federal control over charges imposed by mutual fund managers and sellers uhimately was signed into law (84 Stat 1413) in late 1970. (For back- ground on the muruol fund reform de- bate. see VoL 2, No. 15. p. 791.) The member organization McEwen claims Mrs. Angevine made the deal with was the Nationwide Insurance Comtvanies. a group of mutual in- ,.suranee compattk~s o~ned by the Na- :: -~.".. ~".' "~ t "~. • , . ~, : ~ • ~ ~.: I~ ~ im~i~w, M~s, A~i~ sam that McEwen's allegation was "'un- true" and that she had not made a deal with anyone. She said the CFA membership had not established its policy on mutual fund reforms and that she did not have the authority to take a position in the absence of such a policy. And she said she did not recall the Voorhis committee ever making a recommendation on the subject. She did solicit a statement from Na- tiomvide on the issues involved in the legislation, she said, which she pre- sented to the CFA executive commit- tee when they discussed the measure. The committee concluded, Mrs. Ange- vine recalled, that it was not a high- priority item because consumers who could afford mutual funds were not pa~ of CFA's basic constituency. Friction betw~n McEwen and Mrs. Angevine marred an bthe~ise smooth first year for the CFA. "Pa~ of the:trouble,'" McEwen said, "is that Mm. Angevine did not like to have anybody else exe~e any d~islon- making authority," Family quarrel: The friction was bound up with the built-in stress in the federation between the national groups and the purely consumer groups of the state and local levels. Similar dif- ferences developed between Mrs. Angevine and Mcl".wcn's successor as CFA president, Howard T. Frazier, who-like McEwen-represented the purc-consu merist bloc. It was a dispute over Frazier's use of his authority that led to the o~n internecine warfare at the 1971 an- nual meeting; which was-described in a subsequenl CFA newsletter as the federation's "'first family quarrel." The quarrel threatened to break up ~ - .~ ,.,.--:- . :~.. , ~-" '. "."7~ ,. .~.~ ? . . . .. ?/~ ,. :: . 5_~ :.:,, • .Pf." 7" ",. ~. "~ ".: • Howard T. Frazier the federation and it left scars that persist yet as a factor in the politics of the consumer movement. Frazier. now national director of the Philadelphia-based Consumers Education and Protective Association, was in his second term as CFA presi- dent when the blow-up occurred. had been on the staff of the Prcsl- dent's Committee on Consumer In- terests in the Johnson Administratioa and later was associate director o~ the office of consumer services at the HEW Department, DenMson--Frazier, in the fall of 1970 during his second term. had been urging the CFA to oppose the nomina- tion of former Rep. 0957-59) David S. Dennison Jr., R-Ohio, to be a member of the Federal Tra~e Commission. Frazier wanted the CFA to t~tify at congressional confirmation hearings on the appointment. Am~g the items on Frazier's bill of pa~iculars against Dennison we~ charges that the former Rep~sentative had not proven his interest in sumer p~blen~ that as an attorney Ti54502447

in Ohio he had worked for a firm which represented loan companies that had been found guilty of f~aud and, finally, that the President had not sought the CFA's advice before sub- mitting his name to Congress--a practice the federation membership had endorsed at its previous annual meeting. Frazier, in an interview, said he spoke to six members of the CFA serve six. The president's term runs from one annual business meeting to the next, The board's action was met with outrage from so'me of the CFA's more • militant consumerists. "When lhey got cold feet about forcing a removal, someone got lhe cute idea to move the annual busi- ness meeting," said MeEwen. "Thus Frazier could he thrown out legally and quietly. the Senate and died at the end of the 91st Congress. (For a report on the trade bill, see VoL 2. No. 47,p. 2555.) Results--The McEwen-Frazier fac- tion was resoundingly defeated at the meeting. A subsequent CFA news- letter crowed that "'the much-touted 'donnybrook that could split" Con- sumer Federation of America (accord- ing to U.S. Consumer) and the "score of organizations' that were ready to walk out (according to The Evening board who agreed that the federa- {i~n Sh0tild Scntr n-representative to- "The original decision, tO ~parate testify on the Dennison appointment. "But the executive director didn't agree," Frazier said. She persuaded the board of directors and it was decided not to take a position on the appointment, he said. But Frazier decided to testify any- way-on behalf of the Consumers Education and Protective Association, a CFA mernb~r-~roup:-A series-of- hurried meetings followed, culminating in a conference-call hookup among the members of the CFA executive com- mittee during which Frazier was tlatly ordered not to testify. "So 1 didn't appear," said Frazier. Nevertheless, the incident proved to be a final straw. Frazier bad been nominated for a second term as CFA president, said Mrs. Angevine, only after a number of "'crisis meetings" before the 1970 annual meeting in Au- gust when the condition was laid down " that Frazier would take no stands--as he had done during his first term- that were not clearly in line with poli- cies established by the board. Board actlon--After the Dennison incident, a special meeting of the CFA board was scheduled for early in November. A press release an- nounced that the purpose of the ses- sion was "to set legislative priorities." But the official call for the meeting, McEwen reported, said the principal agenda item would be the question of impeachment of the president. Mrs. Angevine argued that Frazier had violated CFA bylaws. The board, however, recoiled from taking formal impeachment action. Instead, it advanced the date of the annual business meeting from August to January, thus combining the annual meeting with the Consumer Assembly. The change was explained as an ef- fort by the board to save delegates the expense of atlending two segsions al different times of the y~ar. The effect of the change was to cut short Frazier's second term. In- stead of serving 12 months, he would 1131 718/72 NATIONAL /OURNAL Star, Washington) never materialized.'" CFA business from the hurly burly of The proposed bylaw changes were tabled. And "Frazier got only 18 votes for a third term as president against 315 votes for Don Willner, the official- slate candidate. "'We knew all along that they had the voting power to override the challenge," said McEwcn. it was thought important, however, to air their grievances, he added. - .4. few small changcs~rcsulted~ CFA board meetings were opened up to the public and the press. And Will- nor named a world trade committee to develop "'a consum¢~ posiiion on international trade.'" A month before the meeting, a candidate for CFA vice president on the official slate, James Webster of the American Pub- lic Power Association, had mentioned the trade bill in a letter published Dee. 9, 1970, in The Evening Star (Washington~, in which he said: "The matter apparently ranked so low on most consumer activists' scales of priorities...that nobody has taken the time to seek to devise a CFA position." Frazier and MeEwen and their followers remain unhappy with the federation largely because it has not, in their view, fulfilled its promise. They, nevertheless, regard it as a use- ful organization. However imperfect, the CFA does serve as a kind of "countervailing force" in Wash- ington on behalf of the consumer, said McEwen. Frazier, in a recent interview, was critical: ."The CFA is not doing the job: it's.dragging its feet on consumer issues, it ought to be a leader in the fight for consumer rights, but it isn't." But he also said Mrs. Angcvine is doing bet best and that the federation bad been doing "'constructive work on legislation." particularly on no-fault auto insurtmc¢ and the independent consumer protection agency. One footnote lo last year's quarrel is that it clarified Mrs. Angevine's authority. Although in the bylaws the Washington and the Consumer As- sembly was in the interests of the state people," McEwen said. "'The present arrangement is not. and it is a fraud to claim otherwise .... Every move in this sorry tale of lies, deceit and intrigue stinks to high heaven." Annual meetlng-The 1971 meet- ing thus-became the_forum for a__pub- lie airing of the CFA's dirty linen. It also became the focus of an effort, led by Frazier and MeEwen, to reshape the CFA. A series of bylaw changes was proposed that would give the local and state consumer groups an absolute balance of power. One proposed change would have wiped out the voting rights of the large national groups. Frazier was nominated for a third term as president in a floor challenge to the official slate of nominees. Frazier "grew up. with the state groups," said MeEwen in a speech to the delegates, and was "a symbol of our opposition" to the dominance of the national groups. The subject of the fcderation's silence in 1970 on what became-in the hands of Congress-the most pro- tectionist trade bill (HI(18970) since the 1930s was brought into the de- bate. The labor unions in the CFA were, for the most part, ardent sup- porters of.the'bill while consumerists opposed it because it would mean higher prices on imported goods. Mrs. Knauer called the measure "the most significant anti-consumer . legislation now in Congress." The consumerlsts charged.that the CFA's silence was due to the influence of CFA's labor union members. The federation ultimately went on record against the bill but only after public hearings in Congress had ended. "'CFA should have been leading the fight,"" McEwen complained at the annual meeting. The bill, the proposed Trade Act of 1969, passed the l-louse but not T!54502448

1132 executive director's authority over- ;~,¢a~2 shadows that of the elected president, NA'i'IO~.L McEwen and Frazier were, according tOuRI~I, to CFA sources, reluctant to acquiesce 1~2 in a secondary role. The reason the'by: .:~ laws were written as they were, said .~i,~,,~ Mrs. Angevine, was that the original plan called for former Sen. (1949-67) ii~.." Paul H. Douglas, D-Ill., to serve as CFA's president and for McEwen to assume the execotive dircctor's post, Douglas w.anted an arrangement whereby he could serve, yet not be identified in every instance with CFA positions. The bylaws were designed to insulate him as far as possible from CFA's legislative stands. A.t the last minute, however, Douglas declined the presidency and McEwen was named . to the top job instead. And the more powerful number-two job went to Mrs. Angevine, who proceeded to ex- ercise the full authority of her office. But there remained a sense of ambi- guity-and an obvious source of stress between her and the chief elected official--until after the Frazier battle. __A Cons_u__mer Scorecard on Congress The Consumer Federation of America last year be- gan a system of ranking Members of Congress on the basis of a selection of votes cast for and against what the CFA defined as the interests of consumers. The CFA ranked Senators on the basis of seven roll call votes and Representatives on eight recorded votes during the first session of the 92nd Congress. The Senate votes on which the judgments were based were on proposals to permit interstate shipment of meat- A vote against each proposal except the last was re- garded as "right" by the CFA. The outcome in each ease except the fish-inspection amendment to S 2824 conformed to CFA wishes. The House votes were on proposals to strike from the debt-ceiling bill a Treasury Department plan to market $10 billion of long-term government bonds without regard to the 4.25-per cent ceiling on interest rates (HR 4690), to create a select House committee to in- and poultry without federal inspection (S 1316), to de- vestigate~ all U.S. energy resources (}IRes 155), to iete a provision from amendments to the Economic Opportunity Act (78 Stat 508) for child development programs (S 2007), lo prohibit the National Legal Services Corp. from using funds ~'ot legal aid for crimi- nal proceedings (S 2007), to reject a plan authorizing the Department of Transportation to set federal stand- ards to reduce property damages caused by traffic accidents and. to lower auto repair costs (S 976), to strike from product-warranty legislation a provision authorizing the Federal Trade Commission to seek preliminary injunctions or temporary restraining orders against parties committing unfair or deceptive trade practices (S 986), to authorize surveillance and in- spection only when deemed necessary by the Secretary of HEW for continuous inspection of fish and fishery products (S 2824) and to retain a section in the product- warranty legislation providing FTC authority lo insti- tute actions in U.S. district courts for redress of injury to consumers (S 986). .Senate Right John V. Tunney, D-Calif. Frank Church, D-Idaho Adlai E. Stevenson III, D-Ill. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. Philip A. Hart, D-Mich. Walter F. Mondale, D-Minn. Thomas J. Mclntyre, D-N.H. Harrison A. Williams Jr., D-N.J. Joseph M. Montoya, DoN.Mex. Jacob K. Javils, R-N.Y. William Proxmire, D-Wis. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wis. Wrong Marlow W. Cook, R-Ky. House RigOr Nicholas J. Begich, D-Alaska Phillip Burton, D-Calif. Ronald V. Dellums, D-Calif. Glenn M. Anderson, D-Calif. authorize child development programs as part of the Economic Opportunity Act (HR 10350, to extend the Economic Opportunity Act for two years (HR 10351), to broaden the proposed consumer protection ageney'.~ authority to represent consumers before other federal departments and in adjudicatory proceedings and to conduct oversight of informal agency proceedings (HR 10835), to create a consumer protection agency (HR 10835), to delete authorization for the National Legal Services Corp. from the Economic Opportunity Act (HR 10351) and to limit the consumer protection agency's intervention in agency and court proceed- ings to an advisor), status (HR 10835). A vote in favor of each proposal but the last two was regarded as the "right" vote by CFA. The Senators and Representatives who, in CFA's judgment, voted "right" on 100 per cent of the issues and those who voted "wrong" on 100 per cent of the issues are listed. Thomas M. Rees~ D-Calif. Dante B. Fascell, D-Ill. Abner J. Mikva, D-Ill. George E. Shipley, D-Ill. Melvin Price, D-Ill. J. Edward Roush, D-Ind. John C. Culver, D-Iowa Romano L. Mazzoli, D-Ky. Hale Boggs~ D-La. Charles A. Vanik, D-Ohio Joshua Eilberg, D-Pa. Lloyd Meeds, D-Wash. Mike McCormack, D-Wash. Ken Hechler~ D-W.Va. Les Aspin, D-Wis. • Robert W. Kastenrneier, D-Wis. David R. Obey, D-Wis. Paul S. Sarbanes, D-Md. Patten J. Mitchell, D-Md. Robert F. Drinan, D-Mass, Michael l- Hardngton, D-Mass. James A. Burke, D-Mass. William D. Ford, D-Mich. John Melcher, D-Mont. James I. Howard, D-N.J. Joseph G. Minish~ D-N.J. tester L. Wolff, D-N.Y. Joseph P. Addabbo, D-N.Y. Frank ]. Brasco, D-N.Y. Shirley Chisholm, D-N.Y. Edward I. Koch, D-N.Y. Bella S. Abzug, D-N.Y. William F. Ryan, D-N.Y. Herman Badillo, D-N.Y. John G. Dow, D-N.Y. Yhaddeus J. Dulski, D-N.Y. Arthur A. Link, D-N.D. Wrong William L. Dickinson, R-Ala. Sam Steiger, R-Adz. David W. Dennis, R-Ind. John M.'Ashbrook, R-Ohio Omar Burleson, D-Tex. David E. Satterfield I11, D-Va. Watkins M. Abbilt, D-Va. Dominick V. Daniels, D-N.J. Edward Hutchinson, R-Mich. Ti545024.49

Legislative influence class-action legislation two years ago," he said. "'Without them, the Despite the handicaps imposed by legislation might never have come out the internal divisions, inadequate staff of the committee." (The bill, S 3201, support and the lack of funds, there is reported out in late 1970, would have general agreement that Mrs. Angevine "'made it possible for consumers to join is a highly effective lobbyist, together as a group to sue manufae- That is due, in part, to the fact turers and sellers of defective goods. that she works well with the lobbyists The bill died at the end of the 91st for allied organizations such as the Congress.) labor unions. The CFA mounted a mail campaign "We have to rely on our allies he- among its members to generate sup- forts, there also is evidence of im- patience on the Hill with the stodgi- ne~ the organization someiimes dis- plays. Vie Rcinemer, executive, secretary to Sen. Lee Metcalf, D-Mont., echoed Frazier's eriticlsms in an interview. While CFA is a very solid organiza- tion, he said, "It is not out front on consumer issues." The federation, he said, plays a more traditional role in the consumer cause we just don't have enough bodies_ to go around to all the places we should," Mrs. Angevine said. "'When we can, we go up to the Hill, but when we can't, we use the phone a lot, or write.'" Grass roots: The CFA, like most broad-gauged pressure groups, puts port for the legislation. (For back-_ .m6vemcnt. The CFA would rather ground on the measure, see l"oL 2, talk to a S~na~br 6i' Write a letter, No. 19, p. 933.) Pertschuk said the federation is "most effective in providing informa- Rcinemer said, while "some other consumer groups picket or stage pro- tests." The CFA "doesn't seem to have any real priorities except fire-fighting," said Martin Lobel, legislative assistant 1133 7~2 NATIONAL ~OURNAL great emphasis on building influence .,'". • .. .. ..... ~,, to Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wis., the at the grass-roots level. Through vari- "/' . "~ ?" ."- ~.;.~'.". "". " :"'-,,.~. principal sponsor of a number of con- ous periodic communications with ~- • ~..r~... ~_~:~:~r....'~" .." ."~ .'; ~ .~ sumer-credit measures ranging from member groups, the Washingtori of- ",'~.. ~:° • ..~.~.".. ' truth in lending tO legislation givin~ flee is able to generate localized pres- ~ .'!~" • "..: "-" ~ " consumers protection against arbitrary practices on the part of credit bureaus. The federation has done better than" "one ought to expect," Lobel said, considering the size of its staff, "'In order for CFA to become more effective on the Hill," he said, "CFA has .to have more than Er.ma doing the day-to-day work. She needs a larger staff, She needs to organize the experts in the federation better so that they can give her more support when she comes up here. And she needs better direction from her board o f directors." Peter Barash, legislative assistant to Rep. Benjamin S. Rosenthal, D- N.Y., who along with Nader con- ceived the idea for an independent consumer protection agency, said of the CFA as a lobbying group: "(It is) not outstanding; it's not poor. It's somewhere in the middle." "It has tentacles that reach the grass-roots consumer organizations," Barash said. But, he said, the federa- tion does not do an effective job of providing services for its member groups. Its tentacles thus provide the Washington office with little lever- age over the grass-roots groups. "'The Washington" staff does not have autonomy to make decisions," Barash said. "'Every time you ask them to do something controversial, they have to ask their board. I'm glad it's a demd~cratic organization, but the members must give the Washing- ton office power to represent them on controversial issues," While CFA has not been as militant sure on Members of Congress. The federation publtshes a monthly newsletter, News from CFA. a simple mimeographed publication filled with information on what the Washington office and member groups are doing, along with progress reports on legisla- tion. In addition, "member alerts" arc published that spotlight new legislative developments as they occur. Praise: Mrs. Angevine's praises are sung widely on the Hill. "Under the guidance of Mrs. Ange- vine, CFA has given consumers a voice in this town," said Sen. Philip A. Hart, D-Mich., a leading consumer advocate in Congress. "Ranging from votes on product safety to the pro- posed government consumer agency, the record shows that CFA can put consumers' fingerprints on legisla- tion," Hart said. Sen. Percy said that the CFA is a force on Capitol Hill because of Mrs. Angevinc. "Erma Angevinc is to the consumer movement what Arch Booth is to the business communily and wh~t George " Meany is to the labor movement.'" (Arch N. Bot~th is executive vice presi- dent o1' the Chamber o1" Commerce of the United States and Meany is presi- dent of the AFL-CIO.) Michael Pertschuk, chie~ counsel of the Senate Commerce Committee, which handles most of the consumer legislation considered in the Senate, gives the CFA and Mrs. Angevine very high marks. "They made the difference on the ~ .... ... ,...~ ,:,:. ViNinia H. Knauer tion to other consumer groups in their membership." Mrs. Angevine is pragmatic in her approach to lobbying. "'if they (the CFA) find they can't win everything they want on a piece of legislation," said a Senate Judiciary Committee start member, "they will go for what they knowthey can get." In that sense, the staffer said, "the CFA is more politically sophisticated than Nader's group." In the final analysis, however, CFA's influence is based on the widely held perception on the Hill that the federation does, in fact, represent a large--albeit loosely organized--ln- terest group: 30 million consumers, who also vote. "'We listen to CFA because it speaks for the consumer and we don't want to appear to be anti-consumer," said a member of the Senalc Commcr~ Committee who did not wish to be identified. "No mem~r of this com- mittee wan~ to be anti-consumer,'" Li~tations: While the~ is wide r~t for the CFA's lobbying T!54502450

as he would like it to be, Barash's over-all assessment is that it has been "pretty effective." Consumer agency The CFA got caught in a squee:~6 last year between Administration lobbyists on one side and Rosenthal and Nader on the other over the con- sumer protection agency measure. The CFA was attacked by Rosen- thai and Nader for supporting HR t0835, a compromise bill-that the House passed Oct. 14. This would set up an agency R.osenthal and Nader said would be ineffective and would be a "sheep in wolf's clothing." The federation was pressured by the White House, on the other side, for supporting amendments to strengthen the compromise measure on the House floor. (For a two-part series -on the consumer agency debate, see VoL 3, No. 51, "p. 2499 and No. 52, p. 2525.1 The CFA consistently has favored creation of an independent agency. The Administ.ration, however, initial- ly proposed renaming the Federal Trade Commission and making it responsible exclusively for consumer protection. But when it became evi- dent the House Government Opera- tions Committee was going to approve some form of independent agency," White House lobbyists began work- ing with the committee's chairman, Rep. Chef Holifield, D-Calif., in an effort to produce a bill the Adminis- tration could accept. The bill that emerged-the so-called Holifield bill--constituted an attempt to balance the views of one committee faction, which feared creation of a "superagene~," with wide subpoena powers and the right to intervene in most agency and court proceedings, against the views of the Rosenthal faction, which wanted an agency with the power to intervene in "any investi- gation, hearing, or other proceeding.'" Rosenthal charged that the Holi- field bill took out all the agency's serious enforcement powers. And, with Nader's support, he launched a cam- paign to build support for a "con- sensus" amendment that w~uld streaag[hen the bill. Moorhead amendment: The amend- ment, sponsored by Rep. William S. Moorhead, D-Pa., on behalf of him- se~, Rosenthal and 15 other mere- b@ of the Government Operations C~nnittee, dealt ~ith the agency's intervention and subpoena powers. Federation Officers The following" is a list o[" officers and executive committee members of the Consumer Federation of A morion: President Helen E. Nelson, director, Ccnlcr for Consumer Affairs, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Vice Presidents Warren Braren, associate director, Consumers Union of United States Inc., Mzmnt Vernon, N.Y. -Jacob Clayma~ admini~ir~ativ¢ dircct~'~ indU~t.rial -Union Depar-tment, AFL-CIO, Washington, D.C. William F, Matson, chairman. Pennsylvania League for Consumer Protec- tion, Harrisburg, Pa. George E. Myers, director, public relations activities, Credit Union Na- tional Association Inc., Washington, D.C. ~ames C. Webster, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, and public rela- tions director, American Public Power Association, Washington, D.C. Secretary-Treasurer Arnold Mayer, Washington representative, Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, Washington, D.C. Listed below arc members of the 30-member board of directors current- ly ser,,ing on the executive ~'ommiltee, along with the seven officers: Don S. Willner, former CFA president, Oregon state senator (D), Port- land, Ore. Esther Shapiro, consumer specialist, Michigan Credit Union League, Southfield, Mich. Frank C. Cleveland Jr., coordinator, manpower planning, Cooperative Area Manpower Planning System, Columbus, Ohio Tohey Lapakko, president, Minnesota Consumers League, St. Paul, Minn. Currin V. Shields, president, Arizona Consumers Council, Tucson, Ariz. Rosenthal organized a press con- ference, to which a number of con- sumer interest groups were invited, to show a solid front in favor of the Moorhead amendment. "'A week or so before the press conference," said Peter Barash, Ros- enthal's assistant, "I called CFA and asked them to come. She (Mrs. Angevine) hemmed and hawed and, the day before, called and said she couldn't come because she didn't have time to get permission from her board.'" Later, Rep. John B. Anderson, R-Ill.. who opposed the anaendment, said on the House floor that a CFA representative conceded to his staff that the Holifield bill was a good one even without the amendment. Barash accused the CFA of "sell- ing out."' He said: "'We hoped to get CFA behind us on the amendment, but they went around saying that the Holifield bill was good enough." The "AFL-CIO supported the bill but took no position on the amend- ment. Nader charged that the reason for this was 1-1olifietd's friend~ip with the labor federation's chief lobbyist, Andrew J. Biemiller. The AFL-CIO's silence combined with the CFA's waffling also aroused the old suspicions of labor dominance of the CFA. Within the consumer movement, the disagreement between Nader and the CFA was viewed as a serious split. But Mrs. Angevine denied there was a split. "Ralph is an individual and he, therefore, can take whatever stand he wants to," she said. "~i-lis constituency isn't a voting constituency that con- trols him." White House pressure: Mrs. Angcvine told delegates to the Consumer As- sembly in January that before the consumer agency bill went to the House floor last fall, "CFA's staff was pressured from all sides; a White House staff man threatened a Presi- dential veto if CFA sent House Members ~ letter seeking improve- ments in the bill." Mrs. Angevine later identified the staff man as 9,qlliam N. Walker. deputy director of Mrs. Knauer's T154502451

Office of Consumer Affairs. In nn interview, Walker said hc had had several conversations with Mrs. Angc- vine about the legislation but he denied using any pressure tactics. "We did not talk about a Presi- dentia~ veto at all: it would have been premature before the bill got passed by both houses. I did tell her that the Administration supported the Holifield bill, but would not support one that went beyond that." ' CFA wanted to strenglhen the bill by ~ adding amendments,'-' Walker--- ;~. said. "The Administration would not ~." .~;'~ "".. support the amendments as she (Mrs. ~" • Angevine) described them to us, That's ~" "."~ ......... what ! told her. I would not call that ~,~ .........'~(: . • ,.~',..'.~ pressure." ~'~~ ~~~ Mrs. Knau~r supported her deputy's Don S. Willner claim. She told ~aHonal ~ounml: "1 in its accomplishments on behalf of was on the phone with Walker when the consumer. On both the national he talked to Mrs. Angevine. It was a and state level, you have sought and three-way eonve~ation. [ wouldn'~obtained beneficia~ legislation for be stupid enough to exert any pressure. There was no political pressure ap-" plied." Senate: The debate has now shifted to the Senate, where the Government Operations Committee is considering a consumer agency bill (S 1177). The Senate has bee.n the focus of a strong business campaign against the Icgislation. The CFA has launched a "counter-letter-writing campaign" to offset the business effort, which is being spearheaded by the Chamber of Commerce. . In a March 3 statement, the CFA declared that creation of an indepen- dent consumer protection agency with full powers of advocacy and capable of representing consumers before all government agencies and the courts was "CFA's top legislative priority." "'The federation is urging Senate passage of a measure which includes giving the new agency full powers of investigation, subpoena and interven- tion in formal and informal proceed- ings with access to judicial review and maximum independence," the CFA said. Executive relationships The CFA established amicable rela- tions with the Administration during the first two years of President Nixon's tenure but the relationship has been under an increasing strain in recent months, In August 1969, the President sent a message to the second annual CFA meeting which read, in part: "Your organization can take pride the consumer--laws to protect citizens from unjust credit codes; laws to as- sure the consumer of wholesome food and safe products: and many other measures aimed at assuring the in- tegrity of the market place .... "I want you to know that I share deeply your concern for the con. sumer....I welcome the dedicated ef- forts the Consumer Federation of ..America has made and is making to- ward advancing the goals we share." Since that stat.emcnt, the CFA has criticized the P,'esidcnt's con- sumer protection program, calling it "'inadequate and unconstructive." There has been the disagreement over the consumer protection agency legislation. The CFA also has clashed with the Administration over the proposed in- dependent office of product safety. The Administration favored putting the new office in HEW while CFA has insisted that it should be indepe.n- dent. fFor background, see Vol, 4, No. 24, p. 987; also. VoL 4, No. 4, p. And the CFA has denounced the wage-price control program as a fail- ure. Mrs, Knauer: "We've been less than encouraged that they (the CFA) have not been supporting the President's economic stabilization program,'" Mrs. Knauer said. "The)" would be more successful if the)" we.re less political. They have a tendency not to support the Ad- ministration, right or wrong." - But Mrs. Knauer said her office maintains a "cordial relationship with everyone," including the CFA. She listed the frequent contacts. Her staff briefed CFA officials on the economic stabilization program, she said. Some 25 of her staff mem- bers attended Consumer Assembly this year. And three members of CFA's board of directors serve on the 12-member White House Con- sumer Advisory Council. They are Jacob Clayman, a CFA vice president and administrative director of the AFL-CIO's industrial union depart- ment; Solomon Hat,e, executive direc- tor of lhe Consumer Protection As- sociation of Cleveland; and Lee Rich- ardson, former executive director of the Louisiana Consumers League. (Richardson joined Mrs. Knauer's staff on June I as staff director of the Consumer Education division.) Stabilization program: When Don 1135 718n2 NATIONAl. JOURNAL ~)1972 Willncr, thervCFA's president, mc~ with President Nixon last Septembe'r to discuss Phase 2, he and the other consumer representatives at the meet- ing urged a program that would re- quire "equality of sacrifice." Willner also urged the President to permit consumers to participate in Phase 2 decision making on an equal basis with business, labor and government; to devise a system to curb corporate profits; and to provide for strict enforcement of price ceilings. The suggestions, in the opinion of CFA officials, largely were ignored. And the CFA condemned the program as a failure at its last business meet- ing, held about 10 weeks after Phase 2 began. Criticism--ln a resolution adopted unanimously at the meeting, the fed- eration said: "'The Administration's. wage-price program to stabilize the economy is a failure. The program has resulted in stringent restrictions on wage increases and allows prices and profits to increase virtually with- out restraint. "'Under voluntary compliance, cor- porate employers--backed by the Pay Board-have resisted reasonable in- creases in employee income. At the same time, corporations--backed by the Price Commission-have pres- sured for find received innumerable price and profit increases inflating the cost of living. "By imposiflg wage controls on low- income families and allowing price increases, the Pay Board has im- prisoned consumers in growing eco- nomic impoverishment. TI,54E: 2452

1136 "Responsibility for failure of the 7/~/7z economic stabilization program is NATtONAt directly attributable to the Adminis-- iOURNAk tration policies and the execution of ©1072 Phase 2." At the annual meeting, the CFA also awarded the Price Commission a satirical Blackout Award for "its extraordinary achievements of sowing .... " confusion.and contradiction." been to get consumers represented in policy decisions made by the FDA. One of the federation's policy re- solutions last year called for "strength- cuing FDA or doing away with it." "We have concentrated on this agency during the year," Mrs. Ange- vine told Consumer Assembly in Jan- uary, Martha Robinson, CFA infor- mation director, conducted months And late in-i~larch, M~:sJ-Angevine " of negotiations to get some consumer. described the stabilization program as "a skillfully executed hoax." Input-Yet she accompanied Price Commission Chairman C. Jackson Grayson Jr. on a January shopping tour of Washington-area stores to check prices. But) reported the CFA newsletter: "She found price increases; input at FDA. "These attempts bore fruit for CFA late in December (1971) when Dr. Ed- wards (Dr. Charles C. Edwards. FDA commissioner) invited a few con- sumers to sit down with him to discuss FDA 9roblems frankly," Mrs. Ange- vine said. frequently uses the CFA as a sounding board and an information source. Outlook The future of the CFA depends ahnost entirely on its ability to attract new revenue sources and to prevent internal stresses-an inherent part of an organit.ation representing so broad a spectrum of interests--from tearing the federa~tio.n 5tpart. The new CFA pre~ident,~ Helen Nelson, hopes to do something in the next year to make the federation a more closely knit organization. "'My job is to weld it into a co- hesive, vibrant organizatiou," said Mrs. Nelson. "'It's new, young and poor," she he~-did not.~'~The reason, the news- It was the first in a series of meet- said. "1 hope it's going to have more letter speculated, was that the CFA-- Sags; ......... money an_d ~n_ore.staff this year. The shopping list had a wider variety of "'Though we consider this dialogue states need more ser~i~e~ We ~ust items in it than Grayson's did. Mrs. Angevine also testified at the commission's hearings on rules governing public utilily rate increases in late February. "It is diffieqlt to point to any area where rates have been more infla- tionary and have had a more sweeping impact upon the American consumer," she told the commission. She urged the- commission to "abandon its passive role in utility rate cases and to alter dramatically its whole philosophy of regulation in order to protect the pub- lie interest and realize the objectives of the Economic Stabilization Act." "The existing rules are distinguished by their limited scope, numerous ex- emptions, other loopholes in reporting and certification, reliance on industry- dominated state commissions, and by the absence of public involvement in the decision-making process." she said. After the hearings,, however,, the commission decided to continue its heavy reliance on the federal and state regulatory commissions now involved in regulating public utility rates. [For background, see VoL 4. No. 13. p. $12.1 Regulatory agencies: The CFA keeps a close eye on the federal regulatory agencies and has developed what Mrs. Angevine describes as "'reasonable access" to some of them--particularly the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration, which are pivotal to CFA interests. In the past year, one of the CFA's • q,b,r ~o,~ls--as a case in point--has helpful," said Mrs. Angevine, "'we are aware that FDA must begin enforcing laws under its jurisdiction before con- sumers will respect it as an agency serving the public. Its 1971 record is discouraging." The CFA has been pushing legisla- tion this year to establish an indepen- dent agency for food, drugs and prod- uct safety. The legislation would abolish FDA. The Senate, on June 21, approved the new agency by a 69-10 vote. Dr. Mervyn F. Silverman, FDA's consumer affairs director, said that while the CFA's over-all influence on the agency is hard to assess, "The im- pact is there. It is a force. We certainly listen to what they say." Ba'rbara M. Burns, deputy assistant secretary for consumer affairs of HEW, the department in which FDA is located, said of CFA: "'They repre- sent a strong point of view and they are well informed." As for the FTC, the federation has been very active on the Hill in en- couraging opposition to a number of pending bills that would curtail the commission's authority. The CFA also has endorsed the FTC's eounteradvertising proposals under which broadcasters would be re- quired to provide free or paid time for groups to counter dispuled advertising. (For background, see Vol. 4, No. 8. p. 323.1: The federalion's best contact on the FTC ix Commissioner Mar}" Gar- diner Jones, who c'alled the CFA "tremendously essential." She said she find a way to provide them." M rs. Nelson wants to develop a field staff so that the federation can be of more use to the organizations outside the Washington area. The federation is developing what she described as "a pretty carefully thought-out set of policies" to make the" federation more representative of the entire membership. She said she understands the complaints of state and local consumer groups that they are not an integral part of the day-to- day policy-making process. "'Some of the people in Washington are called upon to do more than others," she said, when it comes to working on committees that set policy. There is a tendency to appoint a eleus of Washington-based people'" to work on the committees, because of the practical problems and expense of getting people outside Washington to go there for committee meetings. A build-up in the organization's cohesiveness, through a field staff and "other devices, inevitably would improve the federation's grass-roots impact and, thereby, immeasurably increase its clout on Capitol Hill. "'It fulfills a need to have con- sumer representation on the Hill,'" said Esther Peterson, the first White House consumer adviser (1964-67), who suggcsled creation of CFA. (She is now ~onsumer adviser to Giant Food Inc.} "'They (the CFA) may not always~ win," said Mrs. Pelersun. "'but their best effort is in getting consumer input ~nlo legis/ation.'" T154502453