The proud sage trees standing guard at the U.S. Capitol have yet come into full living color. However, the city is awash in high-definition crimson from political blood-letting and embarrassment over yet another scandal in which at least one House member elected to leave town for good just weeks before the people speak.
But here’s the thing: Had L’affaire Foley not erupted and had it not been bungled by the House GOP leadership otherwise concerned with retaining control of the chamber, there would have been neither shame nor disgrace in Congress about its failure to pass pre-texting, E-911 VoIP and telecom reform legislation. To be fair, it would have been a stretch to get closure this year on a telecom bill that has erupted into a religious war between states and the mobile-phone industry over expanded federal pre-emption provisions. Call-records protection and E-911 VoIP bills were definitely doable, and American telecom consumers are due safety and privacy protections.
With out-of-power (and ideas) Democrats supposedly positioned to reclaim control of the House in the midterm elections, and net-neutrality advocates alive and well, prospects for getting a telecom reform bill through Congress next year are uncertain at best. Meantime, federal pre-emption battles will continue to rage in the courts and at the Federal Communications Commission.
But wait. Congress can point to passage of Internet gambling and Warning, Alert and Response Act legislation, thanks to a popular port-security bill that effortlessly carried them both to victory. For his part, Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), head of the congressional page program and House sponsor of WARN, is suddenly under fire for failing to do just that when he first learned of the ex-Florida congressman’s engaging e-mails to younger folks.
So what can the wireless industry expect from elected representatives in coming weeks and months? There will be just what you would expect: round-the-clock cable TV news coverage of Foley’s follies, investigations, and a you-can-take-it-to-the-bank promise from a bipartisan House ethics panel investigating the scandal to set politics aside for the sake of the kids.
Meanwhile, more school children are gunned down, more U.S. soldiers die as the U.S. mission in Iraq and Afghanistan remains remarkably unaccomplished, Iran and North Korea boast nukes, Darfur drowns and the rest. It’s all pretty sad and depressing unless you have the steely temperament of the high-flying Dow.
