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Comcast Executives Appear To Share Cozy Relationships With Regulators

Posted by timothy on from the how-totally-amazing dept.

v3rgEz (125380) writes A month before Comcast's announcement of a $45B takeover of rival Time-Warner, Comcast's top lobbyist invited the US government's top antitrust regulators to share the company's VIP box at the Sochi Olympics. A Freedom of Information Act request from Muckrock reveals that the regulators reluctantly declined, saying "it sounds like so much fun" but the pesky "rules folks" would frown on it, instead suggesting a more private dinner later.

12 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Not a VIP box at the Olympics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    They invited them to a party Comcast was throwing at the Newseum in D.C., which is a far cry from "the company's VIP box at the Sochi Olympics."

    1. Re:Not a VIP box at the Olympics by Anubis+IV · · Score: 5, Informative

      Wish I had mod points, since AC has it right. If you check the document attached with the article, page 26 has the actual invitation itself, and it clearly says the event is in D.C., rather than in Sochi, and there's no mention at all of a VIP box or anything of the sort. This story went from "Comcast cordially invited them to an opening ceremony event at the Newseum" in the actual invitation to "Comcast invited them to an event for the Sochi opening ceremony" in the article to "Comcast invited them to a VIP box at Sochi" in the \. summary.

      It's a non-story. Just regular schmoozing. Though the fact that regular schmoozing is a non-story might be a story in and of itself...

  2. I'm not sure what the uproar is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hate Comcast/Time Warner as much as the next guy but... I work in sourcing and this is the exact type of email I would send back to a vendor that is overstepping reasonable G&E (gift and entertainment) bounds. What else should they have said? Just not responded? Jeez.

    1. Re:I'm not sure what the uproar is... by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I had that same thought. This is SOP for any professional relationship. The language in the e-mail is very informal but polite, also SOP. Where's the smoking gun here?

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    2. Re:I'm not sure what the uproar is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just to be clear, I take the response that they made to actually be better than not responding or saying "no thanks" - by bringing up the "rule folks" it clearly indicated that the request was improper to begin with and is a polite way of telling the lobbyist to stop sending such invitations.

  3. Say it ain't so. . . by Idou · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I suppose I could go into a rant and write a long post lamenting the influence of the wealthy on our government. However, I think I will just shut-up and do something about it instead by going here and doubling my pledge. . .

    --
    Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
    1. Re:Say it ain't so. . . by Idou · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I see, so because the poster (who could be supporting the agenda of either side) exaggerated, Comcast's invitation is now completely kosher (how many regulator have you schmoozed lately, regardless of the venue?), and the U.S. no longer has a regulatory capture problem that needs to be addressed. . .

      You know, for awhile I thought it was the overwhelming power of the wealthy that prevented change, but now I get the sense that it is the underwhelming intellectual capability of people like yourself that are dragging us down. Happy 4th. . .

      --
      Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
  4. Re:Blatant corruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is blatant corruption. But it's the US, so nobody will give a shit, and the crony capitalism will continue until it ruins the entire country.

    I dislike crony capitalism and worse, the insider oligarchy running this country, but blatant corruption would be him accepting the gift, not declining it.

  5. Public Choice Theory by Stormy+Dragon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Regulatory Capture results in regulators being captured.

  6. Obama's Ethics Website by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists â" and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president."

    -- Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA
    November 10, 2007

    http://change.gov/agenda/ethic...

    Yes, this is still up on the Internet, even today.

  7. Re:That's nothing by ShaunC · · Score: 3, Informative

    And that's hardly anything new, either. Andrea Mitchell of NBC married Alan Greenspan in 1997; he was Chairman of the Fed at the time, and continued in that role until 2006. Nice little bit of "extraordinary access" NBC had there during Clinton's and W's presidencies.

    --
    Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
  8. Ya' think? by medusa-v2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    In my former hometown of Philly, there's a saying "you can vote for whatever you want, but you can't against Comcast." For all practical purposes they have a monopoly on wired Internet access in the city.