With Christine Wilson’s departure, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has lost a champion for high-quality work and open debate. Many will miss her, but the staff and consumers will suffer the most.

What’s even sadder is that it seems that losing her as a commissioner was necessary to lay bare the FTC’s rapid decay. The current agency leadership is reportedly mistreating the staff, going light on consumer protection, and undoing years of rigorous and intellectually sound work that made the U.S. a global leader in effective antitrust — at least until two years ago.

Robert Bork Jr., has called for a congressional investigation into the shenanigans at the FTC. We’ll see whether that goes anywhere. At a minimum, President Biden and future presidents should take note and exercise greater care in choosing commissioners, because the qualities of the persons sitting in those seats greatly impact people’s lives.

Read Dr. Jamison’s complete Op-Ed at The Hill.