WASHINGTON-With major wireless issues facing federal regulators and the White House, the future of two key Bush telecom appointees is growing more uncertain by the day as a result of political bickering that is not altogether partisan.
That the Bush administration has not rushed to renominate Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat whose abbreviated first term ended last June 30, is not surprising in view of the election year and high-stakes telecom issues on which he differs with FCC Chairman Michael Powell, a Republican.
Still, the White House’s failure to reappoint Adelstein to a full, five-year term contributed to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle’s (D-S.D.) retaliatory threat to block all the president’s judicial nominees. Adelstein is a former Daschle aide.
What is more baffling is the Bush administration’s inability to shake loose the hold Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has had for months on the nomination of Michael Gallagher, acting director of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
The Gallagher nomination snag could not have come at a worse time. Later next month, NTIA is set to deliver to President Bush two potentially far-reaching spectrum-management reports. Meantime, NTIA, which advises the president on telecom policy and oversees federal government airwaves, is preparing to send Congress a report on securing additional frequencies for third-generation wireless systems.
As deputy head of NTIA, Gallagher played key roles in mediating contentious spectrum issues involving 3G, ultra-wideband and Wi-Fi technologies.
Gallagher, a Republican, was nominated by Bush last August to succeed former NTIA chief Nancy Victory, who stepped down last summer less than a month before the Commerce Department inspector general concluded that a 2001 party for her that was funded by wireless lobbyists violated government ethical guidelines.
Gallagher breezed through his Senate confirmation hearing last November. A former wireless lobbyist and an aide to former Rep. Rick White (R-Wash.), Gallagher was well on his way to becoming the White House’s primary telecom adviser. But instead he suddenly became political pawn in a feud between Lott and the White House over a billfish (a type of fish)research grant that continues to this day.
Lott, lobbied by fishing interests from various states, feared a Texas entity was poised to receive some or all of the $2.5 million requested for billfish research last year by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).
To retaliate, Lott froze the Gallagher nomination.
Why Gallagher? “Because he was there,” said Susan Irby, a spokeswoman for Lott, last week.
But there could be more to it. Perhaps a grudge, a score to settle. After Lott became embroiled in controversy in late 2002 over remarks some considered racially insensitive, Bush ultimately decided against trying to save the Mississippi lawmaker’s post at that time of Senate majority leader. Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) replaced Lott.
Irby said Lott received “verbal assurances” from the Commerce Department that applicants for billfish research grants must meet certain qualifications as a prerequisite to competing for federal dollars.
But Lott’s concerns apparently have not been satisfied by Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, who was Bush’s presidential campaign chairman in 2000.
Irby said the ball is in the administration’s court.
The administration does not seem to see it that way, raising questions about how much-if any-political capital the White House is willing to expend to assuage Lott and get Gallagher confirmed by the Senate.
“The U.S. Department of Commerce is continuing to work with the Senate, but certainly the hearing and nomination is their prerogative,” said Lisa Camooso, a spokeswoman for Evans.
Camooso did not respond to requests to explain what steps the Commerce Department has taken to address Lott’s concerns about the application process for fishery grants.
Irby said Lott remains in the dark about how the Commerce Department plans to proceed on the matter. Irby did not return follow-up calls on precisely what the Bush administration needs to do for Lott to release the Gallagher hold.
The Commerce Department can hardly afford to let the Gallagher nomination go down in flames. In addition to U.S. job losses and controversy over offshore outsourcing that has hurt Bush, Evans last month saw a Nebraska businessman withdraw his name from consideration for the nation’s first manufacturing czar after it surfaced that his company had laid off some U.S. workers and opened a facility in China.
“We continue to meet with candidates and hope to nominate someone as soon as possible,” said Camooso.
