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| Profile - Ken Baseman | |
| Like many of his MiCRA colleagues,
Ken Baseman began his career at the Antitrust Division, U.S. Department
of Justice. After eight years, he left the government and joined ICF,
Inc., an economic consulting firm, where he ended up working with Steve
Silberman, David Eisenstadt, Bruce Snapp, and Rick
Warren-Boulton. When
members of this group decided to form MiCRA in 1991, Ken drew the short
straw and became managing partner, and he held that position until he
came to his senses in the fall of 2004 and cleverly conned Bruce Snapp
into taking over these duties. Throughout his career, Ken has specialized in antitrust and regulatory economics, building up a broad background in industries such as newspapers, broadcast and cable television, chemicals, international crude oil, tires, automobile components, aerospace, telecommunications, electric utilities, and various aspects of intellectual property. He is also an expert and successful expert witness on the economics of exclusionary practices. As a consultant, Ken has represented public- and private-sector clients in a number of high-profile matters. These include LePage’s v. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, in which Ken represented LePage’s in its successful antitrust challenge to 3M’s marketing programs. In addition, he testified for the Antitrust Division in both the Detroit newspaper JOA proceeding and in the Division’s successful challenge to a Northwest Arkansas newspaper merger (U.S. v. Donrey). Finally, Ken was also involved in Concord Boat v. Brunswick, a case in which the plaintiff alleged that Brunswick’s market share discounts for stern drive boat engines were designed to exclude the only other competitor. The Federal Trade Commission opened an investigation and considered filing an amicus brief favoring the plaintiff, but Ken’s presentation on behalf of Brunswick helped convince them to refrain. (Micra principal Rick Warren-Boulton testified successfully for Brunswick at the trial.) With respect to regulatory economics, Ken has submitted written testimony concerning issues such as: the costs and benefits of line-of-business restrictions for profit-regulated monopolists; the effects of alternatives to traditional rate-of-return regulation; the effects on consumers of cable deregulation; economic and competitive issues relevant to expanded interconnection by local telephone companies with emerging sources of competition; and the market power implications of abandonment proposals for natural gas pipelines. Since shedding his managerial burdens, Ken has had more time to pursue his favorite pastime, golf. A life-long fan, Ken was a member of Carlton’s golf team as an undergraduate and continued to play his way through graduate school at Stanford. Today, he is the perennial favorite to win the prestigious EAG Master’s Tournament, which is named after the Economic Analysis Group, the Antitrust Division group where Ken’s career got its start. |
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