Gonzo regulation, or piling on?

Love him or hate him-there’s probably little middle ground-you’ve got to feel for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin these days. The head of the Republican-led FCC is under increasing fire from congressional Democrats over mounting complaints about a breakdown in agency procedures. Moreover, Martin is embroiled in fiery controversies involving auction rules, digital TV transition, universal service reform, media ownership, cable TV regulation, forbearance policy, broadband data collection and more.
Indeed, Martin’s on the hook over whether the 700 MHz auction produces a viable wireless competitor to the landline telephone-cable TV broadband duopoly and a national mixed-use commercial/public-safety broadband network. Regardless of the outcome of upcoming bidding, one cannot honestly deny the 700 MHz decision represents a fair balancing of competing and complex issues.
Martin has taken heat for the now-legendary delays of FCC meetings, but he told House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) that other commissioners are to blame for waiting until the 11th hour before weighing in on agenda items up for vote. So is Martin alone the cause for the increasingly dysfunctional FCC, or is it also about resistance from the agency’s two Democrats (perhaps emboldened by political cover from the Democratic-controlled Congress) and a sometimes independent-minded Republican in the majority?
But forget about Martin’s travails for a moment, and consider those of his right-hand man, who runs interference and helps orchestrate the insular, meandering management style that’s prompted processes to be scrutinized as much as substance at the FCC. Right out of left field, Martin’s chief of staff Dan Gonzalez (a former NextLink Communications official) finds himself sued by two individuals who invested in an embattled energy company on which Gonzalez served as a director. FCC lawyers said Gonzalez’s part-time job did not violate ethics laws, and Gonzalez declined to comment through an FCC spokesman. According to news reports, Seattle-based MCube Petroleum is under federal investigation for what’s been described as a Ponzi scheme. Washington state authorities already have cracked down on MCube. All told, another odd twist for an odd FCC.