President Clinton has told the Federal Communications Commission that he will nominate its current general counsel, William E. Kennard, to succeed retiring chairman Reed Hundt.
FCC spokeswoman Maureen Peratino said Friday that "the president said he intends to nominate" Kennard and that an official White House announcement is due by early next week. Kennard could not be reached for comment.
Kennard, who has won a reputation as a tough and successful litigator since taking the counsel's post in 1993, faces the Herculean endeavor of seeing through implementation of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Some of the FCC's most important implementation orders - including attempts to set rates for giving long-distance carriers to local telcos' service networks and bringing universal-service rules into the digital age - are under attack in federal courts across the country.
Plaintiff's have challenged the commission's rulemaking under Hundt as ignoring Congress' intent in passing the 1996 law, a sentiment echoed by some on Capitol Hill. But even the harshest FCC snipers in Congress had positive things to say about Kennard.
"He's a good choice." said Ken Johnson spokesman for Representative Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana), chair of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications. "He's a very bright and energetic person. Our only concern is that he's just not Reed Hundt reinvented. Hopefully he will bring a whole new perspective to the job."
Tauzin and other lawmakers, particularly those from rural states, have been particularly critical of Hundt's implementation of universal service reform. They say FCC rules do not encourage competition among service providers in the less-lucrative rural market.
A spokesman for Senator Conrad Burns (R-Montana), who has not been shy about his displeasure with FCC rulings and who chairs the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications, said that though the senator had not met formally with Kennard, there was "not anything overly upsetting" about the impending nomination.
Inside the FCC, Kennard is viewed as a quiet but effective leader. Before he took over as general counsel, the commission lost about half of its cases in the US Court of Appeals in Washington. In a turnaround attributed to Kennard's leadership, the agency now wins about 80 percent of its cases.
Even before Friday's news, Kennard was slated to take a seat on the commission as Clinton's choice to replace Commissioner James Quello, who will soon retire. Among those who were considered for Hundt's post are current FCC Commissioner Susan Ness and Kathleen Wallman, former head of the commission's Common Carrier Bureau.
