Obama appointee Meredith Attwell Baker leaves FCC after just two years to become Comcast lobbyist

[brentspeak]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/05/after-approving-comcastnbc-deal-fcc-commish-becomes-comcast-lobbyist.ars

After approving NBC buyout, FCC Commish becomes Comcast lobbyist

Meredith Attwell Baker, one of the two Republican Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, plans to step down—and right into a top lobbying job at Comcast-NBC.

The news, reported this afternoon by the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, and Politico, comes after the hugely controversial merger of Comcast and NBC earlier this year. At the time, Baker objected to FCC attempts to impose conditions on the deal and http://www.comcast.com/nbcutransaction/pdfs/McDowell_Baker%20Joint%20Statement.pdf">argued that the "complex and significant transaction" could "bring exciting benefits to consumers that outweigh potential harms."

Four months after approving the massive transaction, Attwell Baker will take a top DC lobbying job for the new Comcast-NBC entity, according to reports.

Such cash-ins, of course, are a http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/no-lobbying-says-senator-before-taking-movie-biz-lobby-job.ars">bipartisan affair in Washington.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-his-intent-nominate-meredith-attwell-baker-commissioner-f

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
____________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 25, 2009

President Obama Announces
His Intent to Nominate Meredith Attwell Baker as Commissioner for the FCC

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Meredith Attwell Baker as Commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission.

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individual today:
Meredith Attwell Baker, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission
Meredith Attwell Baker has more than twelve years of experience working in the field of telecommunications and technology policy in both the public and private sector. She most recently served as Acting Assistant Secretary of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration from 2007 to January 2009.

Ms. Baker was previously Vice President at the firm of Williams Mullen Strategies, where she focused on telecommunications, intellectual property, and international trade issues. Earlier, she held the position of Senior Counsel at Covad Communications from 2000 to 2002, and Director of Congressional Affairs at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) from 1998 to 2000. Ms. Baker worked at the U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit in Houston and later at the law firm of DeLange and Hudspeth, L.L.P. From 1990 to 1992, she worked in the Legislative Affairs Office of the U.S. Department of State in Washington.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[xchrom]

2. & why the people will never get the change they need. Oh well. Nt

[fascisthunter]

3. corrupt to the core... corporations and government are one

[crazylikafox]

4. So please tell me why he'll nominate Another Republican for this job???

Obama should make an issue of this & put a Democrat in to replace her. He can point to this corruption as a reason for skipping the bipartisanship the next time. But I don't think I'll hold my breath.....

[FrenchieCat]

7. He doesn't have a choice......

There is a certain combination required as the FCC political make-up...,
period.

[namahage]

9. He can't put in another Democrat.

http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/

The FCC is directed by five Commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for 5-year terms, except when filling an unexpired term. The President designates one of the Commissioners to serve as Chairperson. Only three Commissioners may be members of the same political party. None of them can have a financial interest in any Commission-related business.

There are already 3 Democrats (Genachowski, Copps, and Clyburn).

[brentspeak]

12. Doesn't require him to appoint a Republican, however

[Swede]

16. No one from the Unicorns and rainbows party are available.

:shrug:

[brentspeak]

17. No one from the "registered independent" party is available?

[onenote]

26. not that will get confirmed

Interestingly, the application of the party test under the statute can be tricky. Robert McDowell, who occupies one of the "repub" seats on the FCC is from Virginia, which does register voters by party. Now, McDowell ran for the Virginia general assembly as a republican twice, so it seems pretty clear that he views himself as a repub. But he's not "registered" as a repub, just as I am not "registered" as a Democrat in Virginia.

In any event, one should be careful about what they wish for. Several of the more progressive FCC commissioners of the past 30 years were appointed by Republicans, including Michael Copps (who was the one dissenting vote on the Comcast/NBCU merger -- he was appointed, and reappointed, by Bush. Also appointed by repubs: Jonathan Adelstein, a former Tom Daschle staffer and Ervin Duggan, who served as the head of PBS after he left the FCC.

[onenote]

23. the repubs will block any non-repub nominee

[Name removed]

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[sasha031]

5. absolutely disgusting

[Name removed]

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[brentspeak]

11. "Only three Commissioners may be members of the same political party."

http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/

The FCC is directed by five Commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for 5-year terms, except when filling an unexpired term. The President designates one of the Commissioners to serve as Chairperson. Only three Commissioners may be members of the same political party. None of them can have a financial interest in any Commission-related business.

Where's the part about "The other two Commissioners must be either Republicans or Democrats" in that section?

[Hippo_Tron]

24. The intent of the law was for the commission to have an actual balance

Yes technically Obama could appoint 3 Democrats and 2 Greens to the FEC just as Bush could have appointed 3 Republicans and 2 nutjobs from the Constitution Party. But the people who wrote the law intended for there to be an actual partisan balance among the political parties that actually get a real share of the vote. Thus, the opposition party in the Senate will filibuster if they do not approve of the remaining two nominees.

[rug]

8. i thought he was talking about some rule to prevent government appointees from becoming lobbyists

immediately.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Mimosa]

15. The revolving door from government to lobbying is a BAAD THING!

There needs to be some legislation to stop it.

[Enrique]

18. I missed that merger completely

does that have to be approved by the Justice Dept?

[BlueIris]

19. Shocker. nt

[msongs]

20. first you get a government job to sabotage the system, then you go private sector to cash in nt

[Doctor_J]

25. DC makes the Communist Party Kremlin look like boy scouts

I can't believe how openly corrupt our government is, and how there is no hope of fixing it.

[Hutzpa]

27. By the look of things I can see most here do not

understand what is going on with this NBC/COMCAST collaboration.

Here is a food for thought;
If I can find me a network that reaches the population
at a rate of 65%, with its programming channeling about 65% Liberal/Progressive views, I
will take that any day against a Network such as Fox that has shows that are predominantly
based on stirring up racial divide and 100% against Democrats agenda.

NBC/MSNBC is now being carried by COMCAST in states that would not have gotten the privileged
to view democratic agendas, states that would not have been able to view programs such as;
The Ed Shultz Show, Rachel Maddow, The Last Word, our own Cenk Uygur Show, Dylan Ratigan
and Hardball with Chris Mathews, IMO this is a bigger game changer than most here would
acknowledged.

Furthermore, the FCC Commission by mandatory has to sit a mix of Democrats and Republicans.
You can sit moderate Republicans as part of the group, most importantly the party in power has
the option to choose whom they want seated.