Sorry Jay, the edge this week goes to your friends at CTIA again.
That’s right. Tom just hired himself some “tall timber” lobbying talent: Steven K. Berry, former chief counsel for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, ex-Bush administration lobbyist and now partner in the Holland & Knight D.C. law firm.
“We went on a talent hunt and came back with big game,” boasted Wheeler in macho, Hemingwayesque prose. Berry fills the void left by ex-CTIA lobbyist Wallace Henderson, who returns to cajun country by rejoining House telecom subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin’s (R-La.) staff.
To add insult to injury, Wheeler now has the services of ex-PCIA lobbyist Rob Cohen. Cohen was snatched up by Federal Strategies, a lobbying firm used by CTIA.
We hope former House telecom subcommittee chief Jack Fields is earning his keep for the big consulting bucks PCIA is paying him. Maybe PCIA has the answer. Talk of realignment atop PCIA-headhunters said to be looking for a high-ranging exec VP, below Kitchen but above his two lieutenants, Mark Golden and Rob Hoggarth.
… Hey, what’s this about Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) dashing up Mount Rushmore with Baby Bells. Lobbying for antenna sites on George, Abe, Teddy and Thomas? Please, say it ain’t so.
… So what was the first thing former Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) did upon leaving a Salvation Army halfway house as penance for misusing federal funds? He made a cellular phone call, maybe to order stamps.
… Here’s a telltale sign the Clinton-whipped GOP Congress doesn’t have enough to do or have enough smarts to shake the whiny Gingrich loser image: Pols Abraham, Brownback, Kasich and Royce have a new bill to dismantle the Commerce Dept.
Gosh, if they succeed, all we’ll have left for posterity are newly surfaced video tapes (ala Clinton White House coffees) of Commerce Dept. trade missions with late Secretary Ron Brown.
At the same time, it would get NTIA head Larry Irving off the hook insofar as deciding whether to force the new FCC hybrid RF standard on the Pentagon, FAA and other federal spectrum users who prefer the ’92 IEEE/ANSI standard.
… In vogue this fall: $2,500-$3,000 wire mesh suits for those ensuring compliance with new FCC RF guidelines.
… Ex-public safety wireless regulator Lisa Higginbotham joins D.C. law office and lobbying powerhouse Verner, Liipfert as senior associate.
