BY CONGRESSDAILY STAFF
The White House is quietly assembling a list of two -- and potentially three -- more candidates for the FCC now that President Barack 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 James 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 administration doesn't plan to renew his term. CongressDaily' subscribers can read the full story.
President Obama announced today his nominees for two positions: John Berry as director of the Office of Personnel Management and Julius Genachowski as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Berry, who worked in the Clinton administration's Treasury Department, is currently the director of the National Zoo and served previously as director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. If confirmed, Berry will replace Kathie Ann Whipple, who has been serving as acting director since January.
Genachowski is co-founder and managing director of LaunchBox Digital and Rock Creek Ventures, both technology investment firms based in Washington. He has also held a host of federal positions, including advising lawmakers on legal and technology issues and serving as a law clerk for judges such as Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter.
In a conversation with NationalJournal.com this January, President Bush's FCC director, Kevin Martin, offered advice for his successor at the agency.
Read their complete bios, per the White House, after the jump.
(Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
As former Federal Communications Commission chief Kevin Martin begins the next chapter in his career this week as a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program, National Journal's Winter Casey spoke with him about what advice he would offer his FCC replacement and the key issues he anticipates the commission will be grappling with this year.
NJ: What advice would you like to give to whoever takes over as FCC commissioner?
Martin: I would tell them that they should make sure and look hard at the facts and the underlying arguments that are being made and -- while they will have whatever ideology they bring to the issues -- they should be prepared to actually examine the underlying facts and have it be more of a fact-based decision-making process as opposed to just an ideological one.
NJ: Is there anything in the telecommunications realm that needs to be changed that you think could move forward with bipartisan support this year?
Martin: I think that we need to make changes to our universal service mechanism to make sure that we move it from a voice-grade connections to broadband connections. We should make some more progress on cable rates -- cable rates have doubled over the last decade and I think consumers need relief in terms of additional choices and additional competition. And I think there needs to be a continued emphasis on how we make sure the regulatory environment provides an opportunity and incentive for people to invest in the infrastructure and at the same time maintain an open platform to any kinds of application or devices on the edge.
NJ: Will the new chief technology officer have any impact on what the FCC does?
Martin: I don't know. The FCC is at the bottom a creature of Congress and it's regulatory authority stems from Congress' authority. I am not sure that there can be an additional executive branch position that can have any direct impact on the commission because the commission is still an independent agency.
NJ: What issues do you think will be big ones in the next year for the FCC?
Martin: I think network neutrality will continue to end up being a big issue. I think media ownership will, and universal service.
NJ: Do you have a proudest achievement?
Martin: Finding that balance of making sure that you have incentives for people to invest in the network and have it open. But specifically... ushering in a wireless broadband world in which we had the two most successful auctions of wireless spectrum ever and at the same time we transformed the wireless industry so that it's more open to applications and devices.
By WINTER CASEY
Michael Calabrese, vice president and director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, said he may be a candidate for a position on the Federal Communications Commission.
"I've heard I'm on a list of people being considered as an FCC commissioner, but I'm sure at this point it's quite a long list," responded Calabrese to an inquiry on the topic. He added that as far as he is aware, there is no formal process under way for FCC appointments. There is expected to be a commissioner vacancy in January when Barack Obama takes office.
Calabrese has previously served as director of domestic policy programs at the Center for National Policy, as general counsel of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, and as pension and employee benefits counsel at the national AFL-CIO. Calabrese is a graduate of Stanford Business and Law Schools.
By DAVID HATCH, CongressDaily
President-elect Obama's review of likely changes at the FCC has been delegated publicly to two respected professors, but there are plenty of communications executives working behind the scenes to influence decisions about the agency and the incoming administration's approach to tech policy. Several hold official titles with the transition, but many others are relying on informal ties to have their voices heard on policy matters while staying out of the spotlight.
For the transition team, the result is a tightrope walk with the watchdog community on one side of the balance rod and corporate interests on the other. Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach, professors at the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively, are heading up the FCC review. They sit on the advisory board of Public Knowledge, best known for advocating unfettered access to Internet content and less-restrictive copyright laws. "We're not going to be a government that's run by corporate lobbyists. That's the message," said Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of the group.
But with a heavy roster of former top FCC officials and powerful communications executives working on the transition, some are skeptical that academics will choose the next agency chairman. "I find it hard to believe that they would be the persons making the selections," said one industry source, who expects higher level advisers to call the shots. Crawford and Werbach report to Tom Wheeler, an early supporter of Obama, major fundraiser for his campaign and longtime lobbyist. Wheeler, on leave as managing director at the venture capital firm Core Capital Partners, has a long resume that includes stints as head of the main cable and wireless industry associations.
