FCC Members: Don't Become AT&T Lobbyists After Approving Merger

A media-reform group is demanding each of the FCC's four commissioners publicly pledge that they won't take a lobbying job with AT&T if they approve its proposed merger with T-Mobile.

Departing FCC commissioner Meredith Atwell Baker resigned her post last month to become the top lobbyist for the merged Comcast-NBC, just four months after she approved that merger. The departure of Baker, who exits Friday, is being examined by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Craig Aaron, president of Free Press, says the revolving-door between the FCC and the industries it regulates creates grave concerns "about the public's ability to trust in the integrity of the actions of the Federal Communications Commission." On Thursday, he wrote chairman Julius Genachowski and commissioners Michael J. Copps, Robert McDowell and Mignon Clyburn and urged them to take a public vow that they won't go to work for AT&T after reviewing the merger.

"We now live in a climate where the public has to ask their public servants not to work for the companies that they're supposed to regulate," he said in a telephone interview.

His letter to the commissioners notes the "unseemliness of the revolving door."

Commissioner Baker has assured the public that no legal technicalities or ethical rules were violated in her job negotiations with Comcast, and a congressional inquiry is under way to assess her claim. However, even if no rules were broken, what people see is a system where, in a short time, a supposed public servant can approve a multibillion-dollar deal, publicly criticize the FCC's review for being a time-consuming inconvenience for the company, and then announce that she's accepted a position with the new giant company. Even in the absence of a clear quid pro quo, this move stinks, and the American people know it.

There is no timeline for the commission to take final action when it decides whether the proposal is in the public's interest. The comment period is ongoing.

The Justice Department must also sign off on the deal.

Photo: Zrendavir/Flickr

See Also:

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• Court to FCC: You Don't Have Power to Enforce Net Neutrality
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