[RTC List] FCC appointments - informed speculation

[Sean McLaughlin]

 From Congress Daily:

TELECOMMUNICATIONS
White House Weighs Naming Clyburn's Daughter To FCC

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The White House is quietly assembling a list of two -- and potentially 
three -- more candidates for the FCC now that President Obama announced 
Tuesday that he wants his chief technology adviser and close confidante 
Julius Genachowski as chairman.

Mignon Clyburn, a state regulator and daughter of House Majority Whip 
Clyburn, is a leading contender for Democratic commissioner. The younger 
Clyburn, who has served on the Public Service Commission of South 
Carolina for more than a decade, declined to comment.

She would replace Jonathan Adelstein, who is under serious consideration 
to run the Rural Utilities Service, an Agriculture Department division 
that issues loans and grants for telecom, energy and water treatment 
projects. The RUS is set to receive $2.5 billion in loans from the 
economic stimulus package to promote broadband deployment.

Adelstein, whose term expired in June but can remain through 2009 
pending renomination, would exit when a successor is confirmed. Sources 
said the Obama administration doesn't plan to renew his term because it 
wants a more diverse mix of regulators. Adelstein's office declined to 
comment.

Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and ranking member Kay 
Bailey Hutchison, along with Senate Minority Leader McConnell, are 
playing an active role in the decision-making to fill a Republican FCC 
slot, with Hutchison expected soon to recommend a pick to McConnell. The 
White House makes the final call on who gets the nod.

With three or four positions in contention this year, the Obama 
administration is poised to leave its imprimatur on the agency, a hotbed 
of acrimony and partisanship during the Bush years. Three regulators now 
serve on the normally five-member commission: Acting Chairman Michael 
Copps and Adelstein, both Democrats, and GOP member Robert McDowell.

Genachowski would replace Kevin Martin, a Republican who became chairman 
in 2005 and left on Jan. 20, while Clyburn likely would be paired with a 
GOP choice for the seat vacated in January by Commissioner Deborah 
Taylor Tate.

There's no clear frontrunner for the GOP spot, but contenders include 
Meredith Baker, a Texas native who ran a telecom-related division of the 
Commerce Department under the Bush administration. She is the 
daughter-in-law of former Secretary of State James Baker.

Other prospects include Lee Carosi Dunn, general counsel for Sen. John 
McCain, R-Ariz.; Hilda Legg, former RUS administrator and previous 
McConnell staffer; and FCC Deputy General Counsel Ajit Pai, who's been 
endorsed by a dozen senators.

Additional prospects include Mike O'Reilly, policy analyst with Senate 
Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Ensign of Nevada; Bryan 
Tramont, a telecommunications attorney who was chief of staff to former 
FCC Chairman Michael Powell; and A.B. Cruz III, executive vice president 
and chief legal officer at Scripps Networks Interactive. Other names 
have been floated and sources cautioned that the process is fluid and 
that a surprise nominee could still emerge.

A wild card is the seat held by McDowell, whose term expires June 30 
though he can remain through 2010. His reappointment could be grouped 
with the others, or coupled with the renomination of Copps when his term 
ends in June 2010.

Alternatively, Republicans could recommend someone to fill McDowell's 
seat, forcing him to leave when the replacement is confirmed. While 
McDowell's political patron, former Senate Commerce Chairman Ted 
Stevens, R-Alaska, has left the Senate, the commissioner has won praise 
for distancing himself from Martin, a lightning rod for controversy, and 
fostering good relations with his Democratic agency colleagues. His 
office declined to comment.

Andrew Jay Schwartzman

Andrew Jay Schwartzman
President and CEO
Media Access Project
Suite 1000
1625 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 232-4300
http://www.mediaaccess.org
<http://www.mediaaccess.org/>andys at mediaaccess.org

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