Antitrust enforcement has been a low priority for the Bush administration. How low? Until recently, the Department of Justice hadn't challenged a single case in court. Now, though, in the waning days of a lame duck administration, Tom Barnett, head of antitrust enforcement at DOJ, has moved to undo an already consummated merger between two newspapers in Charleston, W.Va. The decision to fight this deal appears to have come from the Office of the Attorney General, and is based on rationales that contradict other DOJ antitrust decisions. But as luck would have it,
a story in The Daily Deal reports, the parties who could benefit if the deal is unwound are well-connected Republicans. -
Chuck Wilbanks
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