Catfish are jumpin’! Seems that Korn Ferry-a high falutin’ company that puts folks in high-paying jobs in big cities-has Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) on the line for the top spot at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. How ya’ like that.
On paper, Pickering, who represents Mississippi’s 3rd District, would be one mighty fine catch. The conservative Republican, a wireless-friendly House Commerce Committee member, turns 40 on July 10. Chip’s father, Hattiesburg Judge Charles Pickering Sr. has near cult status among right-wingers on account of Senate Democratic efforts to block President Bush’s nomination of the elder Pickering to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Civil rights groups and women’s groups don’t much care for Chip’s dad.
Before 9/11, Pickering Jr., a former aide to ex-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), spearheaded industry’s campaign to procure military spectrum for third-generation wireless systems. Pickering backed off after the September 2001 terrorist attacks, shifting attention to securing the homeland and defending America’s catfish farmers.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I confess a certain fondness for catfish, having caught a mess of ’em from the Potomac as a kid. And I’m here to tell you nothing tops fried catfish, hushpuppies, slaw and an ice-cold draft. So I count Pickering’s catfish connection as a big plus.
But that’s probably not why House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas) and fellow GOPers want Pickering at CTIA. Pickering, being a Republican, is qualification enough. That is, after all, the raison d’etre of the “K Street Project.” Republicans, who control Congress and the White House, want their own running influential trade associations around town. There’s campaign money and political support at stake.
It might be argued picking anyone other than a Republican to succeed CTIA President Tom Wheeler, a Dem, is lunacy and an invitation to trouble.
Political savvy is indispensable, especially for the majordomo of a high-profile wireless trade group whose constituents are federally regulated. But this is a maturing industry whose biggest fights ahead will be fought outside the Beltway. It’s the consumer, stupid. How industry deals with its customer base is what will count most. The backlash over industry efforts to derail local number portability should be a wakeup call for industry to broaden its myopic view of the world beyond official Washington. It also underscores the executive management skill required to keep the fractious troops in line.
Courtesy calls on Capital Hill will not make state regulators, state attorneys general and trial lawyers go away when consumers are angry as hell about dropped calls, termination fees, billing problems and shoddy customer service.
Making Tom Delay happy is not the answer. Keeping 150 million mobile-phone subscribers content is.
