New FCC Appointee Could Face Choice Between Obama's Agenda and AT&T's

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: May 1, 2009 12:25:58 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] New FCC Appointee Could Face Choice Between  
Obama's Agenda and AT&T's

New FCC Appointee Could Face Choice Between Obama's Agenda and AT&T's
Art Brodsky
Communications Director, Public Knowledge
Posted April 30, 2009 | 10:50 PM (EST)
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-brodsky/new-fcc-appointee-could-f_b_194254.html 
>

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) may not have done his  
daughter, Mignon, any favors by getting her appointed to the Federal  
Communications Commission (FCC).
Mignon Clyburn has served on the South Carolina Public Service  
Commission since 1998. When confirmed, she would join Julius  
Genachowski, the Administration's stalled nominee for chairman, and a  
Republican to be named later as the core of a future FCC.

Mignon Clyburn will come into office faced with a very delicate  
political balancing act, which she no doubt recognizes from growing up  
in a political family. Her father is the House Majority Whip, the  
third-ranking position in the leadership; he is the highest-ranking  
African American.

Over the past 10 years, as a member of the PSC, Clyburn has gone along  
with the normal pro-Bell tilt to the Commission. As one telecom  
attorney with experience in southern state put it, if a competitive  
carrier went to the South Carolina commission to argue that the sky  
was blue, and AT&T (the former BellSouth) argued the sky was purple,  
the PSC would rule in favor of purple. The Bell companies have an  
unrivaled story of success in the South Carolina regulatory system and  
legislature, as they do in many southern states. For example, in 1997,  
the year before Clyburn joined the Commission, the PSC approved  
BellSouth's application to provide long-distance service within the  
state. The Justice Department and FCC each rejected it. BellSouth  
tried again in the friendlier atmosphere of 2002, again supported by  
the state, and this time was approved.

Through 2003 and 2004, "Questions of integrity and incompetence"  
swirled around the PSC," the Columbia, S.C., State newspaper reported  
on April 13, 2003 as state lawmakers debated how to reform the  
institution after severely criticizing the competence and  
effectiveness of the current commissioners, including Clyburn, who had  
served as chairman from 2002 to 2004. The newspaper, reported on April  
16, 2003, that, "Failure to properly regulate one South Carolina  
utility was simply a mistake, not a sign of staff problems at the  
Public Service Commission, agency officials said Tuesday. 'It's  
something that can be remedied,' commission chairwoman Mignon Clyburn  
said."

AT&T is a politically potent force, as Mignon Clyburn and her father  
well know, and there will doubtless be pressure on her to follow the  
policies that veteran telecom attorneys from the region acknowledge  
she has long supported.

Those philosophies, however, could come into sharp contrast with the  
expected progressive policies espoused by the President Obama's  
campaign, many of which were drafted by Genachowski and supported in  
the $787 billion stimulus law which requires open networks and non- 
discrimination policies in broadband networks built with stimulus  
funds. It will be an interesting exercise in political realpolitik. If  
Mignon Clyburn or other family members have future political ambitions  
in South Carolina, would she have to toe the AT&T line at the FCC? Or  
will she betray the Administration that appointed her? Mignon Clyburn  
certainly stands out from the other tech/regulatory luminaries who  
have been appointed or nominated for positions in the Administration  
as the only one who has a hint of support for old-line, big business  
telecom. The rest are tech-friendly and forward-looking.

[snip]
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