Issa: FCC Chairman Asked to Explain 81 Visits to White House

Issa to FCC head: Explain W.H. visits By: Brooks Boliek March 24, 2011 12:08 PM EDT

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski still has a lot of explaining to do concerning his frequent visits to the White House during the time the commission was developing its net neutrality rules. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told the chairman that his response to earlier inquiries into the role the Obama administration played in the controversial policy is inadequate. “In the fourteen months since my initial request, the FCC has done little to demonstrate its independence from the White House,” wrote Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in a letter dated today. The letter cites White House records that show that on Sept. 17, 2009 — “just four days prior to the near simultaneous announcement by the White House and FCC on proposed regulations for the open Internet” — Genachowski and his chief of staff Edward Lazarus met with Larry Summers, then the director of the National Economic Council. “In addition,” the letter continued, “in the month following the April 7, 2010, decision by the United States Court of Appeals … that the FCC lacked the authority to regulate network management practices, you and Mr. Lazarus had over a dozen meetings at the White House.” In total, Genachowski visited the White House 81 times between January 2009 and November 2010, which Issa said was more than the secretaries of Energy, Homeland Security, Defense, Treasury and State combined. “The large volume and timing of these meetings gives the appearance that they are more than coincidental,” Issa wrote.

for full article: http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=55DD7ECE-0206-4BCE-88E4-D0CCB4A5A967

Merry Christmas from the FCC: Net Neutrality

FCC may regulate Internet lines days before Christmas

By Sara Jerome – 11/19/10 04:50 PM ET

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has a Christmas gift in store for the phone and cable industry: it may move ahead on its controversial net-neutrality regulations three days before Christmas.

An FCC source confirmed on Friday that the commission plans to push its December meeting back by a week, meaning it will fall on the 22nd of the month. That’s the same meeting in which analysts say the agency may move forward on its controversial net-neutrality proposal.

Though the FCC has not confirmed that it will vote on net neutrality this year, rumors are swirling that it will. 

The timing of the meeting is already raising eyebrows. Some see it as a way to move the matter along before the GOP assumes the majority and while Congress is not in session to criticize the effort.

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), ranking member of the telecom subcommittee, questioned the schedule on Friday.

 He said “it appears that Chairman [Julius] Genachowski is trying to slip it under the radar and hope no one notices.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/130197-fcc-may-regulate-internet-lines-days-before-christmas

Congressman Circulates Lobbyist Letter Supporting Tighter FCC Control on Broadband

David Hatch of spots Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA)  circulating a letter pushing broadband regulation ghostwritten by a lobbyst:

A letter that Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., is circulating on Capitol Hill expressing gushing support for FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s controversial proposal to subject broadband to tougher regulation wasn’t written by the congressman.

How do we know? Digital fingerprints left by the author, Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, a media watchdog.

It’s common knowledge that advocacy groups and corporations routinely craft letters and even legislation for lawmakers. But it’s not every day they leave behind a trail of evidence confirming the link. Such is the case with Scott, who forgot to scrub the so-called “metadata” — yeah, I’d never heard of this either — listing him as the author of the correspondence making the rounds on the Hill.

Such information can be found by going to “file” and then “properties” on an electronic document. Inslee wants to gather the signatures of supportive members by COB Wednesday before sending the letter to Genachowski.

“As legislators committed to expanding access to open, affordable, world-class broadband networks,” reads the document, authored by someone who’s never held elected office, “we have a very strong interest in promoting policies that can support these goals.”

Dan Riehl adds:

It’s said he didn’t just get caught, but he also claimed to have written the letter himself, despite an electronic signature indicating otherwise. Don’t these guys get paid to do actual work? And should they really be letting lobbyists do it for them? I thought Democrats hated lobbyists? Hmm.

Oh sure. Almost as much as big business hates liberals.

for full article: http://pajamasmedia.com/eddriscoll/2010/05/10/gotcha-dem-congressman-circulates-letter-ghost-written-by-lobbyist/