By seeking a US$1 million a day fine against Microsoft for anti-competitive practices, Joel Klein, chief of the Justice Department's antitrust division, has temporarily silenced critics in Congress who accuse him of being, well, soft on Microsoft.
Among the most vocal critics have been several senators who sit on the powerful Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. The panel, responsible for drafting the 1996 Telecommunications Act meant to open up the telecom industry to competition, has grown increasingly intolerant of billion-dollar mergers and hints of monopolistic practices in the high-tech industry.
"Hundreds of software companies came to me with concerns that Microsoft violated the 1995 consent decree, and my interest was to ensure that these allegations were properly addressed," Senator Conrad Burns (R-Montana) said in a statement. "I would commend the Justice Department for vigorously pursuing these very serious allegations and taking action it felt was appropriate."
In June, Burns threatened to block Klein's nomination as antitrust chief on grounds that he would not take appropriate action against Microsoft. Burns, chairman of the Commerce subcommittee on communications, later voted for Klein after assurances that the antitrust division would get enough resources to investigate the software giant.
He wasn't the only one who was unhappy with Klein, who was already acting antitrust chief when the panel considered his nomination.
Klein drew some Democratic fury when the antitrust division OK'd Bell Atlantic's acquisition of Nynex in a $21 billion deal in April. Senator Ernest Hollings (D-South Carolina), the ranking Democrat on the Commerce subcommittee on communications, managed to stymie a vote on Klein's nomination in June, a block the full Senate overrode in July.
"This merger is one of the prime examples which makes Mr. Klein's nomination unacceptable," Hollings said at the time. He had no comment on the Justice Department's most recent action against Microsoft.
In another show of no-confidence in Justice's scrutiny of Microsoft, Burns and Senators Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Craig Thomas (R-Wyoming) bypassed the department in June by asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the company's compliance with the 1995 court order. The commission denied the request, saying that it would overlap with the Justice inquiry.
