Hal Stratton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hal Stratton is a former chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. He was appointed in 2002 by President George W. Bush. Stratton resigned as chair and commissioner in July 2006, three months before his term officially expired. During his tenure at CPSC, the commission considered issues and conducted business related to mattress flamability, all-terrain vehicles, lead in jewelry, generator safety and upholstered furniture regulations. He often was criticized by consumer groups for working too closely with industry and for taking too many trips, often at industry expense. [1]. These included trips to places such as China, Costa Rica, Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. [2]

Stratton, an Oklahoma native, is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma Law School. At the age of 28, he was elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives, where he served from 1979 to 1986, and where he was on the Judiciary Committee and the Energy and Natural Resources Commission. He was elected the attorney general of New Mexico in 1986 by a mere 690 votes [3] and served from 1987 to 1990.

Stratton helped organize a group called Lawyers for Bush in 2000 in New Mexico. The same year, he co-founded the Rio Grande Foundation, a New Mexico based non-profit organization that promotes "limited government, free markets and individual responsibility," according to several news stories about it.

Here is an explanatory excerpt from their mission statement:

"The Rio Grande Foundation of New Mexico is an independent, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to the study of public policy. The Foundation promotes prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility. The Rio Grande Foundation neither seeks nor accepts government funding. The Foundation relies solely on generosity of individuals and institutions in the private sector to fund its activities."

He severed ties after being nominated to the CPSC.

After leaving CPSC in July 2006, Stratton joined the Detroit-based law firm Dykema Gossett PLLC. The Washington Post said he would be "advising companies about the product safety issues on which he had been chief regulator." [4]