WASHINGTON-It appears the White House may be looking inside its own walls to fill the vacancy created when former FCC Chairman Michael Powell left the Federal Communications Commission in March.
Michael Meece, special assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Public Liaison at the White House, seems to be the front-runner for the job.
The telecommunications policy world is still waiting for the Bush White House to nominate two Republicans and one Democrat to fill some commission slots.
In addition to the Powell seat, FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy, whose term expired a year ago, has said she wants to leave and will be required to do so when Congress leaves town for the year regardless of whether the White House has nominated and the Senate has confirmed a replacement.
Besides Meece, two other names are circulating-perhaps for the Abernathy slot. Republican Deborah Taylor Tate is a member of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, and Suzanne Terrell forced Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) to a run off in 2002 before losing the election.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps has said he wants to stay, but his term expired at the end of June. According to the rules, Copps must leave before the end of the 2006 congressional session if he is not reappointed or replaced. Conventional wisdom is that Copps will be renominated due to his support in the Senate Commerce Committee. Except for Copps, no other Democratic names are being circulated.
The FCC nominations process has been in slow motion since Sen. Ted Stevens’ second choice withdrew her name from consideration. Stevens is a Republican from Alaska and chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. Traditionally, deference is given to the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee to make recommendations for open FCC slots. Stevens first endorsed his former aide, Earl Comstock, but he withdrew amid allegations of a problem with his nanny. Then Stevens tried his current aide, Christine Kurth, but Kurth’s husband has many FCC-related clients and that was seen as too burdensome. Stevens has not endorsed anyone since Kurth withdrew in June.
The vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court also has not helped FCC nominations, because the White House’s energy was focused on vetting a Supreme Court nominee. President George W. Bush nominated John Roberts to the Supreme Court July 19.
