http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2009/02/06/daily.9/
I don't like the way the new FCC is shaping up. There's something missing.
My concern has nothing to do with Julius Genachowski, whom the president has reportedly tapped for chairman. He's a smart, earnest guy who will try to balance all the competing interests at stake at the agency, including the public interest.
And I would go along with the idea of replacing Democrat Jonathan Adelstein with somebody who would bring diversity into the agency. That somebody is, by most accounts, Mignon Clyburn, a commissioner of the Public Service Commission of South Carolina and daughter of House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn. She is a she and an African-American.
What I'm having trouble with are the names popping up for the Republican seat vacated last December by Deborah Taylor Tate.
Those names are a function of the process. In exchange for speedy confirmation of Genachowski, the Obama administration is allowing the Senate Republican leadership to fill the seat.
Such deference is nothing new. Over the last decade or so, choosing minority commissioners has almost become the prerogative of the minority party. For better or worse, that's how we got Michael Copps and Adelstein.
TVNewsday's Washington Correspondent Kim McAvoy has assembled a list of the candidates now said to be vying for the Republican seat.
It includes Brian Hendricks, a telecom aide to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison; David Cavicke, the top GOP staffer on the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Lee Dunn, an aide to Sen. John McCain; Mike O'Reilly, an aide to Senator John Ensign; and Ajit Pai, deputy general counsel of the FCC and former aide to Sen. Sam Brownback.
Do you see the common denominator? All these people work or used to work on Capitol Hill. They are basically experts on policymaking, crafting legislation and Washington politics, but not much else.
The seat is turning into a reward for loyalty and a test of whose boss has the most clout.
Bad idea.
As the professed champion of business, the Republicans should award the seat to a businessman or a businesswoman.
I'm taking about somebody who has actually done some hiring and firing, made a payroll in tough times, sweated a big sale, produced goods or services, acquired another company, got a loan to expand operations or survive a downturn and struggled to untangle and comply with federal regulations.
That would be something, wouldn't it?
You could walk into the office of this FCC commissioner and know you were talking to somebody who's been there, who could sympathize with your problems and who could fully understand the impact of regulations on revenue and profits.
Of course, it could cut the other way. You wouldn't be able to snow a business veteran. He or she would know when you were making stuff up or stretching a point.
Installing a business person would also strengthen the Republicans hand at the FCC.
Genachowski, Obama's apparent choice for chairman, started out as a lawyer and policy guy. He was general counsel at the FCC during the Clinton years.
But after leaving the FCC, he plunged into the business world. For several years, he worked at the right hand of Barry Diller in his various Web-based businesses and then became a venture capitalist backing new media plays.
The reason he has not yet been officially nominated, I'm told, is because it's taking time to extricate him from all his business interests.
The point is, the Republicans need a commissioner with business experience who can challenge Genachowski when the debate turns from points of law to points of interest.
So what kind of businessman or businesswoman should the Republican install at the Portals?
You'll not be surprised to hear me suggest a broadcaster.
I believe the United States of America, in 2009, should do all it can to support and strengthen free, universal, over-the-air TV and radio service.
Broadcasting is the communications safety net that makes sure that every American, no matter how poor, can plug into American culture and news to stay informed about what's going on. It is one of the most democratic institutions we have.
And broadcasting is also the only mass medium that can help out in times of crisis. Just like the police, firefighters and EMTs, broadcasters rush to the sites of disasters, while the rest of us run away. They tell the story of what's going on as it happens.
What about CNN and Fox News? The next time disaster strikes, look closely at the video they air. More often than not, it's coming from local TV station crews.
But broadcasting is under more stress today than it has ever been in its history. Over the next few years, the FCC could make it or break it.
Genachowski is not anti-broadcasting, but he is certainly not pro-broadcasting. He's all about promoting the Internet. That's swell except that for all of its wonders the Web has yet to show that it can do what broadcasting does. It's no substitute. Not even close.
Putting a broadcaster on the commission would insure that amid the glitz and excitement of the Internet and other new media, the old media — which still does most of the heavy lifting — is not damaged or forgotten.
It would also ensure that business people will have one stop at the Portals where they know they will find somebody who speaks their language and knows what a struggle this business can be.
So, come on, Republicans, show that you are now the party of change. Look outside of Washington for the next Republican FCC commissioner. It shouldn't be too hard to find a business person, perhaps retired or semi-retired, willing to provide a few years of service to their country.
And if that man or woman also happens to have some experience in a business regulated by the FCC — broadcasting, for instance — all the better.
