Of all the recruits at the Hundt-led Federal Communications Commission, perhaps none has received fewer headlines and contributed more than Christopher Wright.
Wright, deputy general counsel, successfully defended entrepreneur block rules for personal communications services licenses that were made race-and gender-neutral by the FCC after the Supreme Court scaled back affirmative action in June. He’s a popular guy around the agency these days.
Wright persuaded two of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the FCC made the best of the difficult situation created by the new legal constraints of the high court’s ruling in Adarand Constructors Inc v. Pena.
The judges agreed with Wright of the greater good of allowing the entrepreneur block auction to go forward while there’s still a chance for some women, minorities and small businesses to make a go of it in a PCS business made uncertain by AT&T Corp., Sprint Corp. and the Baby Bells.
True, post-Adarand rules are not perfect; they may, as Omnipoint Corp. and others predict, turn bidding into a big-company-front auction. But at least female and minority deals were allowed to stay intact, though Qtel Wireless Inc.-one of the appellants-lost financing after the FCC dropped race and gender bidding credits.
The revised rules comply with the Adarand ruling, which, of course, is at odds with a 1993 congressional mandate that women, minorities, small businesses and rural telephone companies be offered incentives to compete in auctions for wireless licenses.
Government must make decisions that strike a balance of competing interests, based on practical and many times political considerations.
Amiable and unassuming, the 43-year-old Wright is helping the FCC shore up its record in court. He draws on his nine years experience in the Solicitor General’s Office, where he argued 27 cases before the Supreme Court and drafted more than 30 briefs for the government. Wright, quite simply, likes arguing cases for the United States. And he’s good at it.
… The National Telecommunications and Information Administration transferred 45 megahertz of federal government spectrum to the private sector. NTIA last year sent the first 50 megahertz of 235 megahertz to the FCC.
… Thomas Wheeler, Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association president, is back at it with broadcasters. He accused ABC President Roone Arledge of retaliating against his trade group “because we are one of the few business organizations to stand up and oppose the $37 billion spectrum rip-off of America’s taxpayers by ABC/CapCities and other broadcasters,” referring to digital TV auctions.
ABC Prime Time Live sent a crew to Harrah’s Casino in Lake Tahoe in June to cover the golfing part of CTIA’s Wireless Leadership Forum, which was attended by congressional staff members, a current congressman and a former one at a time Congress was considering telecommunications reform legislation.
Richard Wald, senior vice president at ABC, wrote Wheeler back to say Prime Time Live has reported regularly on free trips by various trade associations and lobbyists.
“Our point with them was the same as that with the CTIA-the relationship between those who wish to make their views known and those who have legislative power.”
Is it ratings time?
