May 5 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will name former South Carolina schools chief Inez Moore Tenenbaum, an early political supporter, as head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and plans to boost the panel’s funding.

After a spate of toy recalls in 2007 and a controversy over rules to govern the lead content in products intended for children, Obama is promising to revitalize the agency by increasing its budget to $107 million next year and expanding the commission to five members from three, according to a statement from the administration.

“We must do more to protect the American public -- especially our nation’s children -- from being harmed by unsafe products,” Obama said in the statement. Under new leadership, the commission can “ achieve the high standard of product safety that the American people deserve.”

Congress passed the first overhaul of consumer protection laws in almost two decades last year. While previous regulations included limits on lead, the new law toughened the standard, increased penalties to as much as $15 million and expanded its reach to all products for children 12 years old and younger.

The CSPC earlier this year moved to ease the restrictions amid complaints the new rules were confusing and expensive from makers of products such as bicycles, electronics and books, items that aren’t strictly toys.

Under Fire

The commission has been working with an acting chairman, Nancy Nord, who was appointed to the commission by former President George W. Bush in 2005. Democratic lawmakers including Senator Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat, have called on Obama to replace Nord over what they say are the agency’s delays in providing the regulations for how the law will be enforced and for the way it deals with recalls.

Congress pushed to increase the commission’s budget in the wake of recalls of deadly cribs and toys tainted with lead two years ago. Bush requested $63 million for the CPSC in 2007. In 2008, the budget was boosted to $80 million and the spending measure the Democratic majority sent to Obama for 2009 increased CPSC funding to $105 million.

Tenenbaum, who co-chaired Obama’s South Carolina campaign, ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic candidate against Senator Jim DeMint in 2004. She earned a bachelor of science degree and a master of education degree from the University of Georgia in Athens and a law degree from the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

She’s currently special counsel to the McNair Law Firm in the Municipal Finance Practice Group. She was elected twice as South Carolina’s state superintendent of education.

Transition Team

Obama also will nominate Robert Adler, a professor of legal studies at the University of North Carolina, to fill one of the new CPSC posts. Adler, who served on Obama’s presidential transition team, co-authored a CPSC agency review for the new administration. His research and teaching focus on consumer protection, product liability, ethics, regulation and negotiation, the White House said.

Adler earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and received his law degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

“I am confident that Inez and Bob have the commitment and expertise necessary to fill these roles and raise the standard of safety,” Obama said.

Tenenbaum’s and Adler’s nominations are subject to Senate confirmation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Washington at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 5, 2009 06:01 EDT