WASHINGTON-New House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is expected to impact process more than
policy in the 106th Congress, but his past support for Ameritech Corp.’s long-distance entry and strong campaign
financial backing from landline telephone carriers suggest he still could prove influential in telecom act implementation
and consideration of pending mega-mergers involving major wireless properties.
The unlikely political rise of
Hastert, elected speaker of the House last Wednesday, shifts once more the shaky political landscape that witnessed the
sex scandal-inspired resignation of then would-be House Speaker Bob Livingston (R-La.) and the impeachment of
President Clinton on the same day last month.
Hastert offers an even more compelling contrast to former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who resigned from Congress after the GOP’s disappointing showing in midterm
elections, than Livingston would have.
Far more understated and less abrasive than either Gingrich or Livingston,
the 57-year-old former high school teacher and wrestling coach works behind the scenes and across the aisle to build
consensus.
“This Congress has to go back to work,” Hastert told reporters last Tuesday. As such,
Hastert said he will concentrate on a handful of key domestic and national defense issues-the kind voters chastised
Republicans for ignoring last year as Republicans chased one Clinton scandal after another.
As such, Hastert is not
likely to be a telecom activist despite his past dealings with legislation in the House Commerce Committee.
But the
process of telecom lawmaking will change under Hastert. He is expected to return full authority to committee chairmen
who saw some of their powers usurped by Gingrich and his inner circle of Republican leaders.
“I am very
happy to see Denny in the speaker’s chair,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-Va.).
“He is exactly the person we need right now.”
For sure, Bliley, a savvy, low-key negotiator like Hastert,
is likely to fare better under Hastert than he would have under Livingston.
Livingston was close to House
telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.), whose relationship with Bliley has been fractious at
times.
Hastert was to succeed Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) as chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee on
oversight and investigations. With Hastert’s promotion, Rep. Robert Erlich (R-Md.) is speculated to be in line for that
post.
The subcommittee, which probed allegations of political influence peddling in the Portals-Federal
Communications Commission lease before handing over the matter to the Justice Department, has broad discretion to
investigate the telecom matters tied to the FCC and other federal agencies.
At the same time, Hastert is in a position
to influence telecom policy at any given moment. He is not about to forget generous campaign contributions in the
1997-98 election cycle from BellSouth Corp., $10,500; Ameritech Corp., $10,480; GTE Corp., $9,000; and Bell
Atlantic Corp., $5,000.
Southern Co.-an Atlanta-base electric utility with major digital specialized mobile radio
assets-threw $6,000 Hastert’s way in the last congressional campaign.
Within that group, Ameritech is seeking
federal regulatory approval of a $62 billion merger with SBC Communications Inc. while Bell Atlantic and GTE have a
$65 billion deal pending before the Justice Department and the FCC.
Last July, Hastert wrote FCC Chairman
William Kennard to suggest long-distance carriers might be “gaming” the telecom law by intentionally
refusing to serve residential customers and thereby preventing Baby Bells from entering the long-distance business.
The Bells, among other things, must face local competition before they can provide long-distance
service.
Elsewhere, over the past six months, Hastert weighed in at the FCC on telecom billing and Internet
pornography complaints by Illinois constituents.
