LCI Appoints Bingaman to Lead its Local Phone Division

WASHINGTON — Anne K. Bingaman, who played a central role in policing the telecommunications industry as the former head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, has been named president of the newly created local phone division of long-distance carrier LCI International Inc.

Bingaman, a plaintiff’s attorney from Jerome, Ariz., who resigned from the Justice Department in November, will oversee a staff of 15. They will try to help McLean, Va.-based LCI extend its reach into the local telephone business, where LCI has received permission to offer service in 17 states and the District of Columbia.

“Anne is not here as a lawyer. . . . She’s here to run a business,” said H. Brian Thompson, chairman of LCI. “The reason that I wanted Anne to come here is because she is a person that gets things done.”

Little known outside Democratic Party circles before she joined the Justice Department, Bingaman quickly developed a reputation as a thorough and driven antitrust enforcer during her stint as chief of the antitrust division from 1993 to 1996.

Bringing new vigor to a department that had become a backwater during the Reagan and Bush administrations, Bingaman opened more than 70 civil investigations in her first year.

But her results were mixed, and her handling of the most important case of her tenure--a long-running probe of Microsoft Corp.--drew fire from many quarters. Microsoft agreed to a settlement in 1994 that many in the industry considered a mere slap on the wrist. Later, Bingaman sided with critics and opposed Microsoft’s failed acquisition of personal finance software maker Intuit Inc., and Justice has since been investigating the company again.

Bingaman has been a guest scholar in telecommunications at the Brookings Institution think tank since her departure from the Justice Department.

“Telecommunications is easy in the sense that it was a huge part of the job at the Justice Department,” Bingaman said in an interview. “I’d say I spent at least a quarter of my time on it.”

Because of that involvement, Bingaman said there may be occasions she will have to recuse herself from certain matters to avoid a conflict of interest.