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San Jose Mayor Quits FCC Advisory Committee, Says It is Dealing ISPs a 'Very Favorable Hand' (axios.com)
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo resigned today from a panel that advises the Federal Communications Commission on broadband deployment, alleging that the committee is dealing internet service providers "a very favorable hand" of policy recommendations, Axios reports. From the report: The Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee is a key element of Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's priority of making sure broadband internet reaches all Americans. "It has become abundantly clear that despite the good intentions of several participants, the industry-heavy makeup of BDAC will simply relegate the body to being a vehicle for advancing the interests of the telecommunications industry over those of the public," said Liccardo, a Democrat, in his resignation letter. He told Axios that he thought that the committee's draft recommendations were trying to "steamroll cities" in favor of industry access to infrastructure. He pointed to a draft model law that would give states power over permitting for wireless broadband infrastructure at the expense, Liccardo says, of cities' interests.
I've never understood this move. So he gets his 15 minutes of "fame" and then is quickly forgotten.
I live in San Jose, and I had no idea that Sam was on the FCC advisory committee. So if he hadn't resigned, I would have never known his position. Neither would you.
Sam is a moderate, and is actually considered "right-wing" by Bay Area standards, so his voice carries weight. He is not just a knee-jerk anti-Trump liberal.
the board/committee now has one less voice to advance the cause he represented.
Nobody was listening to dissenting voices anyway. The FCC is a victim of regulatory capture.
The real problem is not bad policies, but the corruption of the process of creating those policies.