Memo To FCC: Conduct the Public's Business in Public Posted by Bob at 11/30/06 01:11 PM

Associated Press Reporter John Dunbar is out with a story about a private meeting with FCC officials that should infuriate anyone who cares about open government.

On Wednesday Dunbar showed up at a meeting touted as an “exclusive briefing” by top-ranking staff from the Federal Communications Commission for investment clients of Banc of America Securities LLC. When Dunbar walked into the meeting during a lunch break, he was informed it was for “clients only” and was escorted from the room by Banc of America Securities’ managing director David W. Barden.

Excuse me?

Call me crazy, but I think it is an extraordinarily bad idea for the country’s top government regulators of the communications industry to be conducting closed-door, “exclusive briefings” for investors. One could even make a very strong argument that any investor profiting from information gleaned from such an “exclusive briefing” had engaged in insider trading.

Possible abuse of securities laws aside, the bigger question to me is what were those FCC officials doing at that briefing in the first place? Isn’t the prime directive of the FCC to serve and protect the public and the public’s airwaves – first, last and always? How, exactly, does a closed-door briefing for a bank’s investment clients further that purpose?

Banc of America Securities told its investment clients they would receive a “timely” briefing with “topics including the AT&T/Bellsouth merger and net neutrality pending at the Commission.” It should be noted that the investment community is keenly interested in both of those topics and any rumor about possible FCC action on them has moved markets in recent weeks.

Banc of America Securities even promised FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein would be present at the meeting, although his office told Dunbar he didn’t attend.

Way too much of the public’s business gets done in the shadows these days, safely hidden from public scrutiny and the accompanying accountability it demands.

The FCC is certainly not alone among government agencies when it comes to this kind of stuff, but some of its recent actions are especially troubling.

In September it was reported that top FCC officials had ordered the destruction of a pair of studies done by FCC employees as part of the earlier media ownership regulation process. The studies reportedly did not jibe with the deregulatory philosophy of then FCC Chairman Michael Powell.

Embarrassed by news reports and congressional criticism about the suppressed studies, current FCC Chairman Kevin Martin very publicly ordered the agency’s inspector general to conduct an investigation. It is still unclear when that investigation will be completed, or whether it will be released to the public.

Then there was the situation we blogged on last week, where the FCC waited until late on Thanksgiving Eve to release an announcement on some highly anticipated studies on its media ownership rules.

Adelstein’s office released a statement after contacted by AP that said: "We regularly meet with all types of parties to broadly discuss policy goals and priorities. As is our practice, in the meeting today we specifically decline to comment on any transactions pending before the FCC.”

FCC spokesman David Fiske read a prepared statement that said agency staff “have always met regularly with a broad array of individuals and groups on a multitude of issues and in a variety of formats. We welcome this interaction and encourage wide participation by outside parties creating a public record on our issues.”

Such disclaimers aside, we are hopeful that all the appointees and bureaucrats at the FCC will think long and hard before they agree to participate in any future event not open to the public and the media, particularly when it involves such controversial and important issues.

And in that spirit of government in the sunshine, we offer the names and positions of three of the top FCC officials who were scheduled to brief the Banc of America Securities investors this week.

They included:

• Catherine Seidel, acting bureau chief of the Wireless Bureau.
• Thomas Navin, chief of the Wireline Bureau.
• Donna Gregg, chief of the Media Bureau.

Also promised were aides to commissioners Adelstein, Michael Copps, Robert McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate.

Feel free to contact them and see if they will conduct a private briefing for you on any issues now before the FCC you might be interested in.

comments (4)

1 Posted by Morgan at 11/30/06 03:04 PM

Here is the fast and easy way to find the phone number or email address of people at the FCC, just stick in the last name:
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/findpeople.pl

2 Posted by M. Gutzwiller at 12/02/06 10:48 PM

Don't we know by now that most of the government entities under the Executive branch of the G.W.
Bush Administration are working in secret and pushing policies that hurt the taxpayers while helping the fortunes of the party in power? Do you remember Cheney's "Energy Task Force"? It was better known as the "Energy Task FARCE", composed of big money energy executives, including Ken Lay, and NO environmental experts. Thus it gave the energy industry everything it wanted, poisoning our air and water, and attempting to give away our remaing wild areas and coastlines. WE won't mention gas prices.
And the Defense Dept. losing millions of tax dollars to Haliburton's overcharging and errors?
And No Child Left Behind which leaves most children behind, as teachers have to "Teach to the Test" instead of teaching children...all the while enriching the companies which publish the tests.
Right... the FCC...Federal Communications Crooks.
Change can't come fast enough.

3 Posted by MIKE at 12/03/06 06:54 AM

FCC AND B of A SECURITIES
Comparing the FCC to " THIRD PARTY ADMINISTRATERS " how can they even consider interacting with the other side of the table ,alone ?
Congress must have a committe to over see the activities of this agency ?Where are they ? Should they be equally liable when there is a vialation of trust ?
Lease revenues and tax monies belong to the AMERICAN PEOPLE and yet this does not bother me as much as the lack of respect for the original intent of the ACT ,to insure unbias information from the broadcasters to the AMERICAN PEOPLE ! Any question due to improper execution of daily responsibilaties must lead to examining the rest of thier work ethic ? Do they not have attorneys to assist them on the law ? ERISA trust are redundant in attorneys and have the use of the RICO Act . The laws should be twice as stiff as the normal public sector this must also apply to any part of the normal public sector that interacts , with these servants of ours
CAN YOU SPELL RICO or ANTITRUST ??????

4 Posted by Steve Hunt at 12/10/06 02:17 PM

Jonathan Adelstein is a stand up guy, actually the best we have on our side.