People in the news

Inez Tenenbaum

Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair (since June 2009)

(The McNair Law Firm)

Why She Matters

Democrats have long been angry at the management of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which they accused of being toothless and too tied to big business under President George W. Bush.

On the campaign trail, Barack Obama promised to double the funding for the CPSC, and early in 2009, he appointed Tenenbaum to chair the commission. She is the first chair in three years because Bush struggled to get a nominee confirmed after 2006.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Attorney at McNair Law Firm (since 2008); Superintendent of South Carolina public schools (1999 to 2007); Attorney at South Carolina Center for Family Policy (1992 to 1998); Attorney at Sinkler & Boyd LLP (1986 to 1992)
Birthday: March 8, 1951
Hometown: Georgia

Alma Mater: University of Georgia, B.S., 1972; M.A., 1974; University of South Carolina School of Law, J.D., 1986
Spouse: Samuel
Web site

Path to Power

Tenenbaum, a Georgia native, graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor of science in 1972 and a master's in education in 1974. After college, she taught elementary school for three years before moving to South Carolina to work with Head Start programs. Eventually, she became director of research for the Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee of the South Carolina House of Representatives. Tenenbaum said her job with the state legislature sparked her interest in public service. In 1983, she enrolled at the University of South Carolina to get her law degree, and then joined the Columbia, S.C., firm of Sinkler & Boyd, where she practiced health, environmental and public-interest law.

Six years later, in 1992, Tenenbaum left Sinkler & Boyd to start the South Carolina Center for Family Policy, a non-profit focused on the juvenile justice system. She made her first attempt at elected office in 1994, when she ran for lieutenant governor. Tenenbaum ran a commercial that said, "My daddy always told me that dynamite comes in small packages. If I'm elected lieutenant governor, the politicians are gonna find out what he meant." She lost in the Democratic primary to Liz Patterson, who later lost the general election.

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South Carolina Superintendent

Four years later, Tenenbaum once again ran for statewide office, this time for state superintendent. At the time, the South Carolina public schools were some of the worst in the nation. She campaigned on a promise of increased funding for early childhood education, an opposition to vouchers and a vow of more training for teachers. She was not seriously challenged in her re-election campaign, claiming 61 percent of the vote in a four-way race.

Tenenbaum won a second term in 2002. In a state that was increasingly trending Republican, Tenenbaum was the highest-ranking Democrat in the government. Gov. Mark Sanford (R) said he wanted to incorporate the office into the governor's cabinet. Though the odds seemed to be stacked against her, Tenenbaum decided to run for U.S. Senate in 2004. She ran on her education record: the state's SAT scores were improving at the fastest rate in the country and Education Week ranked South Carolina as the No. 1 state in the nation for academic standards, assessment and accountability. She wore signature red dresses and campaigned around the state in the Red Dress Express, a recreational vehicle with her picture on the side. She criticized her opponent, then-Rep. Jim DeMint (R), for favoring the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which, she argued, cost the state jobs and said his plan to scrap income tax in favor of a national sales tax would hurt middle and lower-class South Carolinians. Ultimately, Tenenbaum was outspent and lost 54 percent to 44 percent.

In 2007, Tenenbaum's second term as superintendent ended. In 2008, she took a job at McNair Law Firm in Columbia, S.C., one of the largest law firms in the state, but she specialized in education, focusing on bond referendums for construction projects for school districts. "Once you're in public education, it becomes your life's mission," she said.

In 2009, Barack Obama nominated Tenenbaum to take over as head of the CPSC. Tenenbaum "is not an Obama insider," according to the Chicago Tribune, but she endorsed Obama in April 2007, well before the state primary and other key Democrats.

In June 2009, she was unanimously confirmed to lead the CPSC. The CPSC chair had been vacant since July 2006. After Chair Hal Stratton left to take a job with a law firm specializing in fighting against consumer class-action suits, President George W. Bush struggled to find another confirmable CPSC chair.

The Issues

The CPSC annually monitors 15,000 products made in the U.S. and imported from overseas to ensure their safety. But it has been criticized in recent years for deaths that some said was the result of the CPSC being too close to corporate America. The Chicago Tribune won an investigative journalism Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for its series, "Hidden Hazards," about the failings of the commission.

An installment of the series detailed a story about a preschool teacher who noticed that, when a toy broke, it released small but powerful magnets. One of her students had swallowed the magnets and needed emergency surgery after the magnets tore through his digestive track. She called the commission but the only response she got was a form letter telling her about the commission's limited resources for investigation. Six months later, a young toddler died after swallowing the magnets.

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Though Tenenbaum had no experience in consumer product safety when she was nominated, consumer advocacy groups praised the choice as signaling a new direction for the troubled agency. "We're optimistic that new leadership will breathe new life into this agency," Liz Hitchcock, the public-health advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group told the Los Angeles Times. "There's a lot of work to be done.

Said Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids in Danger, an advocacy group in Chicago: "We're thrilled there's been an appointment. We've got a new law, a new administration. Now we need new leadership."

The challenge will be turning around the agency without significantly more funding. Obama's proposed budget requested $107 million for the CPSC in 2010, which the White House described as "a 71 percent increase since 2007." But it is only a small increase from the $105 million the agency received in 2009.

After taking over as head of the CPSC, Tenebaum said she had a mandate to enforce consumer safety laws but said her challenges were two-fold. "The agency has been cut by half over the past ten years," she said. "The other [challenge] is the surge in imports. ... I'll be building the agency so we can meet the changes of a global economy with the imports we receive."

Education

Tenenbaum was extremely popular as state superintendent, in part because the public-school system improved dramatically under her reign.

In 1998, when she first ran for the office, SAT scores in South Carolina were last in the nation, 30 percent of students didn't graduate from high school and 650 violent crimes had occurred in classrooms in the previous year. She campaigned on a promise to improve early childhood education in a state where one-quarter of students weren't prepared for the 1st grade. When her second term ended, the SAT scores in South Carolina were improving at the fastest-rate in the nation, though the state was still nowhere near the best school system in the country.

Tenenbaum was strongly opposed to school vouchers. "I'm totally against vouchers," she said. "We don't have enough money to give public education. I think it's ludicrous to send money to private education." In 2003, she made the risky political move of calling for a tax increase to prevent public school closings and teacher firings. "Unless these funding cuts are restored, the only flexibility districts will have is the flexibility to lay off more teachers," she said.

The Network

Tenenbaum spent most of her career as one of the few Democratic politicians in an overwhelmingly Republican state, but she worked closely with Gov. Mark Sanford (R) on education policy. She also ran against Then-Rep. Jim DeMint (R) during his 2004 Senate campaign.

She is not a part of Obama's inner circle, but in April 2007, she became one of the first Democrats to support him in the all-important South Carolina primary.

Campaign Contributions

Tenenbaum has given nearly $30,000 to political campaigns since 2000, all to Democrats. She gave $4,600 to Barack Obama in 2008, and has given to prominent Democrats, including House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).

Additional Resources

"President Obama fills new consumer product safety commission posts," US Fed News, May 6, 2009
Zajac, Andrew, "New leadership on U.S. product safety," Chicago Tribune, May 6, 2009
Kropf, Schuyler, "Education race is wide-open political duel," The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.)
Callahan, Patricia, "Toy magnets kill young boy," Chicago Tribune, May 5, 2007
Kropf, Schuyler, "Democrats survey damage, look ahead," The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.), Nov. 8, 2002
Jim DeMint, Almanac of American Politics, 2008 edition
Jim DeMint, Almanac of American Politics, 2008 edition
Dewar, Helen and Connolly, Ceci, "Democrat shows surprising strength in S.C. Senate race," The Washington Post, Oct. 28, 2004
"Tenenbaum built career as advocate for schoolchildren," The State (Columbia, S.C.), March 26, 2000
"Tenenbaum's spark must ignite school support," The State (Columbia, S.C.), April 20, 2003
Horne, Hannah, "Tenenbaum says she's confident, ready to lead CPSC," WIS10 TV station in Columbia, South Carolina, June 22, 2009
Lazarus, David, "Safety agency lacks muscle," Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2009
Montgomery, Bob, "Tenenbaum defeats 3 opponents," The Greenville News (Greenville, S.C.), Nov. 6, 2002
Dozier, Al, "S.C. superintendent candidate opposes voucher system for private education," The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.), March 19, 1998
Brundrett, Rick, "Exclusive: Tenenbaum to work with McNair firm," The State (Columbia, S.C.), July 9, 2008
Center for Responsive Politics
Lazarus, David, "Safety agency lacks muscle," Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2009
Editorial, "Tenenbaum's spark must ignite school support," The State (Columbia, S.C.), April 20, 2003
Jim DeMint, Almanac of American Politics, 2008 edition
Cooper, Helene, "Obama to nominate new head of consumer safety," New York Times, May 5, 2009
"2008 Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism," New York Times, April 7, 2008