WASHINGTON-Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) confirmed to RCR Wireless News he is being considered for the top job at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, but it is unclear whether the 39-year-old Mississippi lawmaker is the trade group’s first choice to lead the $80 billion mobile-phone industry.
“I am under consideration, but my family and I have not made a decision,” Pickering said through a spokesman.
Pickering is a known ally of the wireless industry and is a member of the House Commerce Committee. He was an aide to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), former majority leader, during consideration of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. His last re-election was close, and it is unclear whether he wants to subject himself to such a bruising campaign again in 2004.
His name has been bandied about for weeks as a possible candidate for the job as speculation mounted that CTIA wants a well-known Republican to replace Thomas Wheeler, a Democrat who has headed the wireless trade group since 1992.
The “K Street Project,” an initiative championed by GOP congressional leaders and political activists, wants Republicans to head trade associations and corporate government relations offices here. Wheeler, who pulls down a $2 million salary and oversees a $40 million budget, is set to stay at CTIA’s helm until the end of the year and will stay on as a consultant.
Korn Ferry International, a global executive search firm, is in charge of finding Wheeler’s replacement.
“The search committee has interviewed a series of candidates and is in the process of narrowing the choices,” said Leslie Hortum, office managing partner here. Hortum declined to comment on whether the CTIA search committee, headed by Alltel President Scott Ford, has offered the job to Pickering.
Former Rep. Dennis Eckart (D-Ohio), currently president of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, has also been mentioned as a possible candidate to succeed Wheeler.
Eckart served in the House from 1983 to 1993, during which time he became an influential member of the House Commerce Committee. After leaving Congress, Eckart became a high-powered lobbyist, representing CTIA, Motorola Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and others.
Eckart, through spokeswoman Kati Tarmann, declined to comment last week on whether he has been approached or has interest in the top job at CTIA.
The rumor mill has been active with names for months, with high-profile slots at CTIA and possibly the Motion Picture Association of America up for grabs.
Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, said he is not interested in either position. Tauzin’s name has repeatedly been mentioned for the MPAA top job. MPAA President Jack Valenti, a former aide to President Lyndon Johnson, is in his 80s and is expected to soon retire from what many consider to be the top lobbying job in Washington. As Tauzin’s name is chatted about for the MPAA job and it is noted that Hollywood may not be too favorable to that idea, Tauzin’s name then invariably comes up for the CTIA post.
“As the great American storyteller Mark Twain once wrote, `The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.’ Well, unfortunately, so have recent persistent rumors of my `pending retirement,’ ” Tauzin told Republican members of the House Commerce Committee. “Serving as chairman of the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee-the oldest and greatest committee in Congress-is the crowning achievement of my 31-year political career. I worked very hard to get to the top of this mountain, and I am going to enjoy the view for the next 3.5 years with a gavel in my hand and a mission in mind. So forget the rumors. I am running for re-election in 2004.”
