Kevin Martin's FCC "Dysfunctional"

A Committee on Energy and Commerce Majority Staff report released today (12/09/2008) details the findings of the Committee’s bipartisan investigation relating to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

“Our investigation confirmed a number of troubling allegations raised by individuals in and outside the FCC,” the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Bart Stupak (D-MI) said. “The Committee staff report details some of the most egregious abuses of power, suppression of information and manipulation of data under Chairman Martin’s leadership. It is my hope that this report will serve as a roadmap for a fair, open and efficient FCC under new leadership in the next administration.”

“Any of these findings, individually, are cause for concern,” said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. “Together, the findings suggest that, in recent years, the FCC has operated in a dysfunctional manner and Commission business has suffered as a result. It is my hope that the new FCC Chairman will find this report instructive and that it will prove useful in helping the Commission avoid making the same mistakes.”

The report, titled “Deception and Distrust: The Federal Communications Commission Under Chairman Kevin J. Martin,” is the culmination of a bipartisan investigation into the FCC’s regulatory processes and management practices that was formally launched on January 8, 2008.

Read the Report (4.2 Mb pdf) for the full "scoop" or, listen to todays conference call with Chairman Stupak regarding the report and the investigation (audio).

It's also rather interesting to learn that industry trade magazine RCR Wireless News today declared Chairman Martin this year's most influential wireless player.

And you are still wondering why wireless regulation (and other FCC-managed matters) in the U.S. are so......(insert your own descriptive word here).

NR

FCC staffer: This place is hell; silent protest planned

Interesting blog post about life at the Federal Communications Commission....

Excerpt:

A Federal Communications Commission employee called me on Friday and said that this Tuesday, the third anniversary of Kevin Martin's tenure as Chair of the FCC, at least some staff will arrive at work dressed in black. A "silent but expressive protest" is what they're calling the move. What for? I asked. "Because this place is hell," came the reply.

A super-politicized environment

It appears that a critical mass of FCC grunts are sick of what they experience as a super-politicized work life in which just about anything that they want to do has to get the go-ahead from the top, that being Kevin Martin. "Nothing happens in the Commission without the approval of the Chairman's office," my source told me. "It is incredible. We have become so political."

Do you have any sense of the logic of these directives from the Chair? I asked. "Nope," came the reply. "It seems as random as he got up this morning and ate his breakfast and just decided to do it."

Why are FCC employees upset about this? Not because they disagree with Kevin Martin's perspective on this or that FCC issue, but because, according to my source, he and his top subordinates demand that staff skip proper procedures and leapfrog various rules, even Congressional mandated rules, on a day-to-day level.

"In the past I may or may not have agreed with the outcome, but at least the proper procedures were followed. Now they tell us 'what are the media reform groups going to do: file a class action lawsuit? Just do it.' But ethically I have to sleep at night. It's not the decision, it's how the decision is reached. The situation has become arbitrary and capricious."

So....what else is new? This just points out how more and more obvious it is that some changes are needed in the way top brass at the FCC conduct themselves when attending to spectrum matters and other regulatory business that impacts us all.

NR

Kevin Martin's Top 10 Predictions for the 700 MHz Auction

Courtesy of Susan Crawford:

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s Top Ten Predictions for the 700 MHz Auction:

# 10. AT&T will say the outcome proves network neutrality is not necessary.

# 9. Google will say the outcome proves network neutrality is necessary.

# 8. NAB will say the outcome proves the XM-Sirius deal should be rejected.

# 7. I will say the outcome proves the country needs à la carte.

# 6. Congress will spend the auction receipts 10 times over before we cash the checks.

# 5. No matter how fast the D Block licensee builds out the public safety network, Commissioner Copps will say it was too slow.

# 4. Even if AT&T and Verizon bid against each other, costing each other billions, Consumers Union will claim they conspired to rig the bidding.

# 3. No matter who wins the A, B, C, D, and E license blocks, they will all end up suing Vonage for patent infringement.

# 2. If anything goes wrong, I will blame the subprime mortgage crisis.

# 1. If anything goes wrong, everyone else will blame me.



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!


NR

UPDATE: FCC Boss Under Scrutiny for Management Tactics

FCC Chairman Martin has dutifully responded to House Commerce Committee Chairman Dingell's recent inquiry regarding the management tactics employed by the chief of the nations wireless communications regulatory agency.

For those interested, here is Chairman Martin's 56 page initial reply.


Happy reading.


NR

(Repost)

FCC Boss Under Scrutiny for Management Tactics

"Martin's Management at FCC Under Scrutiny" is the "shocking" headline of a news report by Jeffrey Silva recently. It seems that the House Commerce Committee has launched an investigation into Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin's management of the agency.

"Procedural breakdowns at the agency tasked with overseeing communications laws for our entire nation jeopardize the public interest it is bound to serve," said House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.). "Our nation is founded on fair, open and transparent government, and the Federal Communications Commission is certainly no exception. When that openness and transparency is compromised, so too is public confidence in the agency."

In a letter to Martin, Dingell asked the FCC chief to commit in writing by Dec. 10 to publish proposed rules in advance of FCC meetings, and to provide sufficient time to review proposed orders and rules. In addition, Dingell wants Martin to agree to provide other commissioners with all data and information on which those proposed orders and rules are based.

The two Democrats on the GOP-led FCC, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, have been particularly critical of Martin's oversight of the agency; however, complaints about Martin's stewardship have not been confined to the two telecom regulators.

"I have received several complaints from the public and professionals within the communications industry about how Chairman Martin is conducting business at the FCC," said Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations. "It is one thing to be an aggressive leader, but many of the allegations indicate possible abuse of power and an attempt to intentionally keep fellow commissioners in the dark. I look forward to investigating these concerns to be sure that the FCC chairman is not disenfranchising his fellow commissioners and the American public he is supposed to serve."

Hmmm....as was previously reported here, perhaps the GAO auditors should join forces with Dingell's committee and dig a bit deeper; so far, they've only scratched the surface of what many believe may be a much larger management problem within this agency.


NR