Last time around, you’ll remember we made special note of Herculean Gore 2000 fund-raising efforts by one J. Shelby Bryan, wireless pioneer and FOB. Well, there’s more.
For all his help, Clinton in late July appointed Bryan to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Heady stuff. Having made a fortune in wireless, Bryan has segued into fiber optics as chairman and CEO of ICG, a top competitive telephone company.
But that’s not the end of the story. As Washington Post inside-the-Beltway scribe Al Kamen tells it, nothing extraordinary jumped on the radar screen during the FBI’s background check of Bryan.
But then, gossipy New York tabloids caught fire with stories about close encounters between Bryan and Vogue editor Anna Wintour and impending divorces to boot.
With the world now tuned in, White House personnel chief Bob Nash reportedly tapped Bryan on the shoulder and asked if, perhaps, just maybe, he might want to reconsider the Clinton appointment-you know, save the prez and Al a little embarrassment. Geez, Al has enough problems trying to plug holes in `Floodgate.’ No way, no how. Bryan wouldn’t budge. He’s in.
On a related front, it seems George W. is cultivating early, unprecedented support among trade association chiefs in town via Tom Kuhn, a Yale buddy who heads the Edison Electric Institute.
Apparently several well-paid lobbyists for the oil, chemical, supermarket and forestry industries pledged allegiance to the GOP presidential front-runner at an unofficial dinner of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last month. I reckon they figure good ol’ George W. won’t get awfully upset if they pollute the air and water a little bit.
Two trade group heads who weren’t among the ditto heads at the Chamber feast: CTIA President Tom Wheeler and USTA President Roy Neel. They, as private, law-abiding citizens and God-fearing Americans, are solidly in Gore’s camp.
My question is this: Would CTIA wireless members and USTA wireline members be better off under a socially-conscious, high-tech Gore administration or under a Bush presidency that, no doubt, will deregulate everything in sight faster than you can swat a Texas fly?
Closer to home, one FCC legislative reform proposal floating around would limit travel of the chairman, commissioners and others. Official travel within the continental U.S. couldn’t exceed 20 days for any commissioner; 15 days for any other FCC employee. International travel would be capped at 15 days for the chairman and commissioners; 10 days for everyone else.
Now who do you figure they had in mind when this inconspicuous little provision was crafted? Drop me a line at [email protected].
