Non-Profit Groups Join to Blast State AGs over Microsoft Case
Yesterday at a press conference sponsored by Frontiers of Freedom, leaders from several non-profit public policy groups gathered to discuss the motives of the nine states that recently chose to break ranks with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and press on in the Microsoft anti-trust case. Attorneys General in ten other states once also pursuing Microsoft have recently decided to follow the DOJ lead and settle their cases.
Frontiers of Freedom Vice President Jason Wright opened the press conference by asking for rapid consensus saying, “Let’s cut to the chase and call this what it really is. This is an effort by these states to take advantage of a company and industry they view as having a back strong enough to balance their budgets on. The state attorneys general ought to be ashamed of themselves.”
George Landrith, president of Frontiers of Freedom, added, “The nine states and the District of Columbia who insist that the Justice Department’s settlement with Microsoft isn’t tough enough, continue to base all of their expectations and all of their arguments on the trial judge’s rulings, which were resoundingly overturned on appeal. The fact is the settlement is like virtually every other settlement I’ve seen. Each party got something it wanted and each party had to give-in to things that it did not want. So why do these folks continue to claim they cannot support the settlement? Why do they continue to misstate the law and the facts? Why do they continue to pretend to be protecting consumers? It’s all about money. Justice has nothing to do with it.”
Tom Schatz, president of the taxpayer advocacy group Citizens Against Government Waste, spoke out on the timing of these states’ decision to ignore the settlement. “The economy is sinking, the technology sector is in trouble, the nation is at war, and some attorneys general are continuing their vendetta against a leader of the new economy,” he said. “The settlement would benefit both consumers and taxpayers by bringing certainty to the marketplace and encouraging new investment in technology.”
The 335,000-member National Taxpayers Union, represented by President John Berthoud, offered that the events of September 11 further clouded an economic horizon that was already darkening. “The last thing taxpayers and consumers need,” said Berthoud, “is the threat of continued legal action against companies that can brighten this horizon. State officials should realize that ending all obtrusive antitrust litigation, like that against Microsoft, could provide a ray of hope at a time America needs it the most.”
Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist insisted that the attorneys general in the states not settling have already gotten what they most wanted. “They should end this now. They got their headlines looking tough standing up against the federal government. In time I believe they will back down and realize the advantages of reversing course and joining the settlement.”
Concluded Landrith, “We call upon the state attorneys general to stop their quest for cash. Let America get back to the business of prospering again. Don’t shackle the nation’s economic recovery in hopes of collecting a few more dollars.”
Other participants included the Association of Concerned Taxpayers, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, American Conservative Union, and the seniors’ group 60 Plus.
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Frontiers of Freedom is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy organization dedicated to promoting free markets and constitutionally limited government and protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans.
CONTACT: Jason Wright of Frontiers of Freedom, 703-246-0110; e-mail: jwright@ff.org
