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CNN Live At Daybreak

Talk with Resigning CPSC Commissioner Ann Brown

Aired August 09, 2001 - 08:51   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has three months now to find a new leader for the Consumer Products Safety Commission. His first choice was rejected by the Senate. But now, the commissioner, Ann Brown, says she will leave the agency November 1st.

She joins us this morning from Washington to talk about all this.

Miss Brown, thank for being here.

ANN BROWN, CPSC COMMISSIONER: Sure. Nice to be here, Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Your term isn't supposed to end for a few years. Why resign now?

BROWN: Well, I had always planned to resign when a new chairman was appointed. I thought the president needs to have his own choice of chairman, and I thought that this was a good time to be going. But now I'd like to give the president time to get somebody confirmed, someone I hope that will support the mission of the agency and be very proactive on behalf of the health and safety of American families and children?

MCEDWARDS: And one of the criticisms of successor that President Bush wanted, Mary Sheila Gall, was that some Democrats on that Senate committee that rejected her suggested that she might side with the companies before she would protect the safety of consumers, which was one of the reasons that her nomination was rejected. But the buzz is that the administration thinks that you led the charge against her, and that were actually going to remove you from your post this week as a kind of retribution for that.

BROWN: Well, I only know what I read in the newspapers, and hear on television and watch on television, because I have not been contacted by the White House at all. But what's really important to me is that I stay long enough until November 1st, to make sure that we get done some very important safety issues. This is really not about personalities. This is about making sure that we keep families and children safe.

MCEDWARDS: Miss Brown, one senior official even said that you engaged in character assassination. That's a pretty serious charge.

BROWN: Luckily, if you're in Washington, you get to be thick- skinned. Of course I had nothing to do with this. I just watched on the sidelines, and made sure that we kept the commission going, as chairman, to make sure that we were doing our job, and we have a wonderful mission there, and that's what I was intent on doing.

MCEDWARDS: Do you expect to be around until November 1st?

BROWN: I have no idea. I read in the newspapers that the president would still like to fire me, me even though I've resigned. And that we'll deal with when it happens. Right now, I'm just plugging along, and the staff of the agency we're working hard to keep families safe.

MCEDWARDS: Ann Brown, thanks for your time this morning. Appreciate it.

BROWN: Glad to be here.

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