OIRA pick triggers concerns about regulation

Last week, the Washington Post's 44 blog reported the rumor that Cass Sunstein, University of Chicago Law professor and acclaimed author of the book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, would be Obama's pick to run the White House's primary overseer on government regulations. (More after the jump.)

Today, Post business colunist Cindy Skrzycki wrote that the Sunstein nomination "may moderate the Obama administration's wholesale elimination of President Bush's last-minute rules and the direction of health and safety policy." Rena Steinzor, a University of Maryland law professor and president of the Center for Progressive Reform, described Sunstein as "extremely conservative on regulatory issues." One major concern of public interest leaders is a paper Sunstein wrote last year questioning the constitutionality of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.