All Shook Up: Martin Remakes FCC

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: October 18, 2005 8:39:01 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] All Shook Up: Martin Remakes FCC
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com


[Note:  Worth reading if you're into knowing about the inner workings  
of the FCC.  DLH]

All Shook Up: Martin Remakes FCC

Submitted by editor5 on October 17, 2005 - 2:09pm.
By Ted Hearn
Source: Multichannel News via Free Press

<http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/1463>

Two weeks into his new job, chairman Kevin Martin said putting the  
right people in the right positions at the Federal Communications  
Commission would be high on his agenda.

“Whenever you are actually getting into a new position, when there is  
a change in leadership, the first issue is always, actually,  
personnel,” Martin said at the National Cable & Telecommunications  
Association’s National Show in San Francisco in April. “It’s most  
important to try to make sure that you are bringing in people that  
are going to be working with you on issues you need to address.”

The idea that a staff shakeup might be a priority could seem odd  
coming from a Republican, who had just replaced another Republican,  
Michael Powell, the FCC’s chairman since the beginning of the George  
W. Bush administration in early 2001.
Martin-izing the FCC: Chief Changes
FCC chairman Kevin Martin has made changes at top of the agency’s  
bureaus:
Wireline Competition Bureau:
Thomas Navin (Martin), replacing (Jeffrey Carlisle).
Enforcement Bureau:
Kris Monteith (Martin), replacing David Solomon (Powell).
Wireless Bureau:
Catherine Seidel (acting), replacing John Muleta (Powell).
Media Bureau:
Donna Gregg (Martin), replacing Kenneth Ferree (Powell).
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau:
Monica Desai (Martin), replacing Dane Snowden (Powell).
International Bureau:
Don Abelson (Powell holdover).
Office of the Inspector General:
Walker Feaster (Powell holdover).
Office of Engineering & Technology:
Bruce Franca (Martin), replacing Ed Thomas (Powell).
Office of General Counsel:
Samuel Feder (Martin), replacing John Rogovin (Powell).
Office of the Managing Director:
Andrew Fishel (Powell holdover).
Office of Media Relations:
David Fiske (Powell holdover).
Office of Legislative Affairs:
Anthony Dale (Martin), replacing Martha Johnson (Powell).
Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis:
Timothy Peterson (Martin/interim acting), replacing Robert Pepper  
(Powell).
Office of Communications Business Opportunities:
Carolyn Fleming Williams (Powell holdover).
Office of Workplace Diversity:
June Taylor (acting), replacing Barbara Douglas (Powell).
SOURCE: Multichannel News research

But Martin has kept his word. Since taking the reins in March, he has  
put his own chiefs atop five of the FCC’s six operating bureaus,  
which develop and implement regulatory programs in media and  
communications [see chart]. He has moved less aggressively in finding  
new people to head the agency’s nine staff offices, which provide  
support services in engineering, law and the like.

But in bureaus and offices, Martin has quietly removed key people  
from posts deep in the commission, where vital analyses are performed  
and legal opinions drafted.
Martin-izing the FCC: Staff Changes
Martin also has made changes below the bureau-chief level:
Peter Tenhula: From deputy chief of Wireless Telecommunications  
Bureau to staff attorney in Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau.
Robert Ratcliffe: From deputy chief of Media Bureau to Deputy Chief  
of Enforcement Bureau.
Barbara Esbin: From associate chief of Media Bureau to attorney in  
Enforcement Bureau.
Suzanne Tetreault: From associate bureau chief and chief of staff of  
Enforcement Bureau to attorney in Enforcement Bureau.
Scott Delacourt: From chief of staff of Wireless Telecommunications  
Bureau to attorney in Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau.
Jeffrey Dygert: From deputy general counsel in Office of General  
Counsel to attorney in Office of Engineering and Technology.
Jill Pender: From attorney in Office of Legislative Affairs to  
attorney in Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau.
Mary Beth Richards: From deputy chief of Enforcement Bureau to staff  
lawyer in Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau.
Lauren Patrice: From special counsel for media and public affairs in  
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to attorney in Consumer &  
Governmental Affairs Bureau.
SOURCE: Multichannel News research

“The truth is that chairmen always want to make sure that the people  
in key positions are responsive and loyal to them. That is always a  
motivating concern for a new chairman,” said Washington, D.C.,  
attorney John Nakahata, FCC chief of staff in 1997 and 1998 under  
chairman William Kennard.

The fallout consists mostly of hurt feelings among FCC staffers, who  
believe they’ve been pushed into slots inconsistent with their areas  
of expertise. But Martin’s juggling act also could be delaying the  
$17.6 billion sale of Adelphia Communications Corp. to Time Warner  
Inc. and Comcast Corp.

In September, five months into the agency’s review of the cable deal,  
Martin reassigned Barbara Esbin, the Media Bureau attorney who had  
been leading the review.

“Why in the world, in the middle of the approval process, would you  
move out a person who has responsibilities on a major transaction?”  
said a Washington, D.C., communications lawyer and former FCC official.

Although the scope of staff changes may vary, FCC chairmen tend to  
insert trusted colleagues into key staff positions, FCC officials said.

Former FCC chairman Richard Wiley, now a Washington, D.C., attorney,  
said he did not shake up the staff of predecessor Dean Burch when he  
became chairman under President Nixon in 1974. But any FCC chairman  
is entitled to do so, he says.

Some FCC personnel uprooted by Martin have not disguised their  
unhappiness, with some believing their seemingly close ties to Powell  
have damaged their career prospects under Martin. Powell and Martin  
had a tense relationship, capped by Martin’s refusal in February 2003  
to back Powell’s overhaul of local phone competition rules.

“It’s been a rolling, six-month, weird process. Some people you knew  
right off the bat were trusted, and the implication was that the rest  
of us were not,” said one FCC staffer forced to change jobs.

FCC lawyer Peter Tenhula is a Powell confidant dealt a Martin  
demotion. A legal adviser in Powell’s office from 1997 until 2002,  
Tenhula left in September 2002 to become co-director of the FCC’s  
Spectrum Policy Task Force. A year later, Powell named him acting  
deputy chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.

Under Martin, Tenhula has been downgraded to a staff attorney in the  
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau.

“It’s like going from near the top of a bureau to the beginning  
stage,” an FCC staffer said.

Tenhula’s association with Powell evidently was a handicap in a  
Martin-run FCC.

“If you are part of the Powell crowd, you are not part of the Kevin  
crowd,” according to one FCC watcher who asked not to be identified  
in order to maintain good relations with Martin’s office. Tenhula did  
not return a reporter’s call.

A former FCC official added, “I would be shocked, if I were Peter, to  
be told that you are not needed as deputy of the Wireless Bureau  
where you have all your expertise and years and years of service.”
‘INVOLUNTARY’ SHIFT

[snip]
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>



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