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FCC Chairman: a Former Cable Lobbyist Who Helped Kill the Comcast Merger
An anonymous reader writes: After Friday's news that the Comcast/TWC merger is dead, the Washington Post points out an interesting fact: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who was instrumental in throwing up roadblocks for the deal, used to be a lobbyist for the cable and wireless industry. "Those who predicted Wheeler would favor industry interests 'misunderstood him from the beginning — the notion that because he had represented various industries, he was suddenly in their pocket never made any sense,' said one industry lawyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he represents clients before the FCC." The "revolving door" between government and industry is often blamed for many of the problems regulating corporations. We were worried about it ourselves when Wheeler was nominated for his current job. I guess this goes to show that it depends more on the person than on their previous job.
The pool of people who are knowledgeable about the practices, challenges, and daily business realities of the telecommunications industry (or any industry for that matter) is a small one indeed; good luck finding someone in that pool with the experience necessary to lead an agency the size of the FCC who hasn't worked for the industry at one time in his or her life.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
... "Those who predicted Wheeler would favor industry interests 'misunderstood him from the beginning — the notion that because he had represented various industries, he was suddenly in their pocket never made any sense,' ...
Given that Mr. Wheeler is more of an outlier than a norm, it made a lot of sense to presume Mr. Wheeler would favor industry interests.
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I, for one, am glad he broke from the mold.
I don't know about you, but I find it somewhat disconcerting that it's so surprising a federal regulator DOES HIS JOB that we get a news article about it. The idea that this proves there is nothing to worry about with "revolving door" policies is naively optimistic.
I admire Mr. Wheeler for the ability to separate his job from himself
Don't be so quick. The notion that this merger was "good for the industry" is nonsense. It was good for Comcast and TWC, but certainly bad for all of their competitors (Cox, Verizon, AT&T, etc.). Wheeler may already have a job offer from one them. He may have done the right thing for the wrong reason. We'll see what happens when his door revolves.
If you think Wheeler nixed this out of the goodness of his heart, or a jolt of moral courage, you're naive. He wanted this merger to go through, but there was so much opposition he couldn't make it happen without everybody involved looking really bad.
There's no need to be skeptical. No rule is without exceptions. He could easily be good intentioned in this case and still not really disprove the rule of regulatory capture.
Of course, you're right that he could have a reason that this particular merger met his ire. He may have a job lined up with a competitor. Maybe Comcast pissed him off when he was on the phone with them once. Maybe his friends at the country club don't like Comcast.
Still, he could easily have been annoyed about how transparently bad the arguments that Comcast and Time Warner Cable made were. I mean, just listening to the commercials they were hitting us with and how they tried to somehow convince people that Comcast, one of the most hated companies in America, is somehow going to be good for us because they planned on implementing Net Neutrality without being told to (a line that went away right after the Title II changes). As if they could be forced to keep that promise after they merged with TWC. And gee whiz, they sometimes give away internet to poor kids, which I'm sure no one else has ever thought of, ever. Right.
This doesn't suprise me. I can't easily find the source ATM, but I read that he was part of a startup back in the day, and his company got screwed over by some giant company that crushed it. So he's probably been holding a grudge this whole time. Being a former lobbyist means he knows all the games; being a former start-up owner means he also knows the pain of the unfair near-monopoly advantages from the front lines.
Okay, let's be honest here.
The guy was put under an electron microscope the second this hot issue came up.
Had this not been as controversial as it was, I SERIOUSLY doubt that he or the issue would have had that kind of all-seeing scrutiny.
In many cases, skulduggery requires apathy and/or ignorance from the general public.
The Comcast/TWC merger had a few octillion candle power focused on it from all directions.
You had consumers going "FUCK NO!" by the millions.
You had reportage going "FUCK NO!"
Hell, you had POLITICIANS going "FUCK NO!"
Had he rubber-stamped this merger, all manner of people would have been howling for blood. He'd be removed from his position, and the ensuing legal and political inquiries would have essentially ended his life and neutered any prospect of future employment.
So, with pretty much EVERYONE standing over his shoulder (with club in hand), he was FORCED to play it straight.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Wheeler, 69, does not need to seek another job when he departs the FCC, and that freedom enables him to make the decisions he thinks is right, according to people close to the chairman.
Judging simply from his age, it's very implausible that his actions were part of a ploy to seek secure employment after the FCC.
At least in the synopsis no mention is explicitly given to the initial "solution" Wheeler was backing, Internet Fast Lanes. That would have killed Net Neutrality and given the big ISPs just what they wanted.
It was not until a ton of public pressure forced Wheeler to change course. I'm glad Tom Wheeler came around. But he didn't do that on his own. Let's not forget that Wheeler was initially the revolving door shill everyone expected him to be.