Bush Appoints Wal-Mart Lawyer to Head Labor's Wage and Hour Division [View All]

Bush Appointment Draws Quick Fire
President Bush’s recess appointment today of lawyer Paul DeCamp,to be administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the Department of Labor drew quick fire from some Democrats, particularly those seeking to make Wal-Mart a campaign issue. Bush nominated him for the post, but the Senate hasn’t acted on the confirmation. At the law firm of Gibson Dunn, DeCamp has represented employers and defended Wal-Mart in a big employment-discrimination case.

George Miller of California, senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, promptly fired off a statement: “As a lawyer, Paul DeCamp has never represented American workers in a single case. He has worked on behalf of Wal-Mart - a company with an abhorrent record of labor relations - and other companies against the interests of American workers and consumers in numerous cases. Yet he is the man that President Bush has chosen as one of the nation’s top enforcers of workplace rights….This recess appointment is one more reminder that the President does not care about making sure that workers are treated fairly on the job or enforcing laws that he doesn’t happen to like.”

The Labor Department unit enforces overtime, workplace discrimination and child-labor laws.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/08/31/bush-appointment-draws-quick-fire/