Obama pledges Net neutrality laws if elected president

[Ichingcarpenter]

18. OBAMA’S BAD PICK: A FORMER LOBBYIST AT THE F.C.C.

Memo to a President who said, in November, 2007, “I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists in Washington that their days of setting the agenda are over”: If you are going to name a former lobbyist for big cable and wireless companies as head of the federal agency that regulates the cable and wireless industries, you had better find a public-interest-group advocate to say something positive about him (or her) before you make the announcement.

Job done.

By Wednesday, when the White House confirmed that it was nominating Tom Wheeler, a veteran Washington insider who has headed not one powerful industry association but two, as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the nomination had already secured the support of Public Knowledge, an advocacy group that promotes open and unlimited access to the Internet. “Certainly we will have disagreements with the new Chairman (assuming Wheeler is confirmed), but we expect that Wheeler will actively work to promote competition and protect consumers,” Harold Feld, a senior vice-president at Public Knowledge, wrote in a blog post.

That’s a relief—or is it? The closer you look at Wheeler’s selection, the more questionable it appears. After being poorly led for more than a decade—particularly under the disastrous tenure of Michael Powell, son of Colin—a strong argument can be made that the last thing the F.C.C. needs is an industry insider with close ties to many of the companies it oversees. In recent years, the cable and telecom industries have consolidated into a handful of quasi-monopolistic corporations, such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, A.T. & T., and Verizon, which, all too often, are busy trying to gouge their customers while asking Washington for covert favors. Perhaps what is really wanted is another Elizabeth Warren—a vigorous consumer advocate and proponent of competition who’s willing to stand up to these corporate giants. Even with the best will in the world, it’s hard to see Wheeler as this type of crusading figure.


http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2013/05/tom--wheeler-federal-communications-commission.html