FCC Commish-Turned-Lobbyist Can't See What All The Controversy Is About
from the tone-deaf-to-the-very-end dept
FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker has been receiving a ton of criticism for taking a high level lobbying job at Comcast just months after approving its huge merger with NBC Universal. The response has been almost universally to condemn Baker in a move that smacks of the corruption of regulatory capture and the revolving door between corporations and the government that regulates them. I had been wondering if all of this publicity would lead to Baker backing down and no longer taking the job (only to take a similar job, more quietly, down the road). But, instead, it looks like she's digging in her heels and insisting that nothing (nothing!) improper is going on here. She claims she hadn't even considered taking a job until months (months!) after the merger was approved:Until late this spring, my plan was to seek renomination for a second term as Commissioner. That was true all through the winter during consideration of the Comcast/NBCUniversal transaction and in the months after it was completed.Nowhere in Baker's statement does she even come close to acknowledging the concerns that people have raised. Instead, she claims that she's been extra ethical in that she's "gone further" than what the law requires:
Not once in my entire tenure as a Commissioner had anyone at Comcast or NBCUniversal approached me about potential employment. When this opportunity became available in mid- April, I made a personal decision that I wanted to give it serious consideration.
I have not only complied with the legal and ethical laws, but I also have gone further. I have not participated or voted any item, not just those related to Comcast or NBCUniversal, since entering discussions about an offer of potential employment. Because of this, I plan to depart the Commission as soon as I am able to ensure an orderly wind-down of my office.Well, isn't that nice.
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Filed Under: fcc, lobbying, meredith attwell baker
Companies: comcast
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I swear..... it's people like this woman who get me angry at our system of government.
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I suppose...
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Re: I suppose...
She's 'extra' ethical only until it comes out she's not.
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and that's the problem, the law doesn't require enough.
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Did she put forth legislation or make any decisions that would facilitate the merger?
If the answer is "Yes." to either question the the obvious answer would be "Yes, she should resign."
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legal laws
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Re: legal laws
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Re: Moral To Own Slaves?
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Keeping up appearances
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If you have dealt with any politician recently they are slightly off their nut. It's like the party is about to end and they are getting frantic because there is nothing they can do about it. It reminds me of the fall of Rome in some ways. I am waiting for the offical white house orgy invite to leak ending in B.Y.O.S. (Bring Your Own Sheep).
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Why would this happen if legit
Isn't an FCC commisioner in your corner more valuable to Comcast than having another lobbyist?
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Response: "But I'm being really, really honest!"
If only self-awareness was something you could inject, like insulin.
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I'll scratch your back and you scratch mine. But I'll be extra ethical about it!
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She Knows
She knows what she is doing and the directors of Comcast are fully-aware co-conspirators.
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Re: She Knows
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Thanks for doing that, at the very least...
Will said "wind-down" include instructions on how to project a "deer-in-the-headlights" sort of innocent naivete? Or is that just something the incoming appointee will have to practice in front of the mirror during his or her downtime?
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So, in other words, she has been neglecting her duties as a Commissioner in their entirety. Yet despite not doing her job "since entering discussions," she's presumably still been accepting her paychecks. Now that's what I call ethical behavior!
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politicians..
It's even working the other way; the RIAA/MPAA attorneys are now working for the DOJ, which to me sounds like hiring foxes to keep order in the henhouse. Sometimes I wonder if the DOJ attorneys from the RIAA/MPAA still receive checks that are not from the government.
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What?
wait so why she is flushing out her cushy new job in the private sector she is wasting tax payer money by not fulfilling the job she is getting payed to do at the fcc. I think that perfectly highlight why this is a conflict of interest even in the opposite way of what you might think
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umm..
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Obligatory quote
Upton Sinclair
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