Harkin and Boswell Want Whirlpool's Purchase Of Maytag Blocked

From the Detroit News:

Two Democratic members of Iowa's congressional delegation said Thursday that they have asked the U.S. Justice Department to block Whirlpool Corp.'s proposed purchase of Maytag Corp.

Rep. Leonard Boswell and Sen. Tom Harkin sent their request in a letter Thursday to Assistant Attorney General Tom Barnett.

The Justice Department is investigating whether the merger of Whirlpool, the nation's leading appliance maker, and Maytag, the third largest, would concentrate too much of the appliance business in one company and violate antitrust laws.

Last year Harkin was hoping that Triton Acquisitions, working with Ripplewood Holdings out of New York, would buy Maytag due to their promise of keeping the Newton and Amana manufacturing facilities open, but a high bid didn't materialize. Short of selling Maytag to Chinese manufacturer Haier, Whirlpool had the best deal and the Board of Maytag and the shareholders approved it.

But Harkin's never had any assurance from Whirlpool execs that the Iowa facilities would stay open. Harkin and Boswell are certainly doing the right thing in trying to kill this deal if all Whirlpool wants is a couple of brand names, a pile of debt, less competition, and eliminating all the jobs here in Iowa.

And where the hell is Chuck Grassley?