WASHINGTON-Even as FCC Chairman Kevin Martin administered the oath of office to returning colleague FCC Commissioner Michael Copps and new Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, he could be closer to finding himself in the majority.
The White House is rumored to be vetting Robert McDowell, a Republican and senior vice president and assistant general counsel at CompTel, to fill the seat left vacant when Kathleen Abernathy left last month.
As assistant general counsel to CompTel, which represents competitive landline carriers, McDowell is largely unknown to the wireless industry. Still wireless insiders in Washington said he likely would want to reform universal service and intercarrier compensation, but could be too focused on using government regulation to solve competitive problems because of his background.
“Anybody who comes to the table with a background of intrusive regulation could be troubling,” said one wireless carrier representative.
Abernathy left the agency last month, leaving Martin temporarily in the minority. FCC members serve five-year terms and are selected from both political parties. Three members, including the chairman, come from the president’s political party, while the remaining two come from the opposite party. The president nominates people, and the Senate confirms the nominees after hearings.
As it stands today, Republicans Martin and Tate face Democrats Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. Copps’ term ends in June 2010. Tate’s term, since she is filling former FCC Chairman Michael Powell’s seat, ends in June 2007.
The search for the fifth member has proven to be more difficult than most imagined. Traditionally, deference is given to the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee to make recommendations for open FCC slots. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) apparently wants his own choice on the commission. He told reporters he had made suggestions to the White House but he refused to name them.
“We’ve made some suggestions,” Stevens told reporters in November. “The people we have suggested have other jobs so I don’t want their names to be out in the public. They’re liable to not have a job at all if I start talking about them.”
Stevens already has nominated Earl Comstock and Christine Kurth, but both candidates withdrew due to various reasons. Comstock is now the president of CompTel. Many speculate that Stevens could be endorsing McDowell privately as a favor to Comstock and that if McDowell joins the agency, Comstock could influence him.
Tate, formerly with the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, quickly announced her first staffer after she was sworn in. Aaron Goldberger has been named a legal adviser, although no details were announced. Goldberger is experienced in the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau.
