FCC Commissioners Ask For Private Meetings

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Life is toough in an open givernment. Much easier if descisions are made in
a closed enviroment. I think it would be first the FCC , then ... END OF
OPEN GOVERNMENT

Dave

------ Forwarded Message
From: Frank Muto <info () ISPNETWORKS ORG>
Reply-To: Telecom Regulation & the Internet
<CYBERTELECOM-L () LISTSERV AOL COM>
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 13:58:42 -0500
To: <CYBERTELECOM-L () LISTSERV AOL COM>
Subject: FCC Commissioners Ask For Private Meetings

February 10, 2005

FCC Commissioners Ask For Private Meetings

Chairman Powell, commissioner Copps say open-government rules hinder their
ability to work together.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress should enact changes to open government laws to
make it easier for political appointees on the Federal Communications
Commission to discuss issues in private, two FCC members said.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell, a Republican, and fellow Commissioner Michael
Copps, a Democrat, said the law hinders communication between individuals on
the five-member FCC because only two members at a time can talk face-to-face
outside the confines of a commission meeting.

Powell and Copps, in a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted
Stevens, R-Alaska, said they supported the goal of open government laws, but
added that Congress should change the law to let more than two commissioners
meet privately ``in appropriate circumstances.''

Otherwise, commissioners must communicate via their staffers, or through
letters and e-mails.

``These indirect methods of communicating clearly do not foster frank, open
discussion, and they are less efficient than in-person interchange among
three or more commissioners would be,'' Powell and Copps wrote in the letter
last week to Stevens and released publicly Wednesday.

Stevens could not be reached immediately for comment. Newspaper groups and
free speech advocates bristled at the request and said it would lead to less
transparency.

``It's basically arguing that it is inconvenient for them to have open
meetings,'' said Steve Sidlo, managing editor of the Dayton (Ohio) Daily
News, and chair of the First Amendment Committee for the Associated Press
Managing Editors Association.

``If you are going to have a transparent government that's accountable for
decision-making, that allows people to understand why decisions are made,
then you have to have open meetings,'' Sidlo said.

The open government law requires deliberations be public when ``the least
number of individual agency members required to take action'' are meeting.

On the five-member FCC, three votes are needed to conduct official business.
Therefore, any meeting of three commissioners, whether by chance or on
purpose, must be open to the public.

Powell, who is leaving the FCC next month, and Copps said it was an
appropriate time to address the issue because Congress is expected to tackle
a host of telecommunications issues this year, including how to regulate
Internet phone calls and digital television rules.

Safeguards could be added to the law to ensure a private meeting of three
commissioners would not ``jeopardize the goal of open government,'' they
said.

``Commission decisions are in some cases less well informed and well
explained than they would be if we each had the benefit of the others'
expertise and perspective,'' they wrote.

The purpose of the open government law is to avoid ``back-room deals and
mischief'' among public officials, said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, chief
executive officer of the Media Access Project, a Washington, D.C.-based
public interest law firm.

``It is inconvenient to operate in the public eye, but it is a good thing,''
Sidlo said. ``Inconvenience isn't a good reason.'



Frank Muto
President/Ceo
FSM Marketing Group, Inc.
Co-founder -  Washington Bureau for ISP Advocacy - WBIA
www.wbia.us

------ End of Forwarded Message


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