DSL Prime Editorials: Politicians Sweep Midterm Elections (The Onion headline)

The Rebpublicans now have an opportunity to become the party of ethics—and the Democrats now have every opportunity for corruption. ISPs beware: this is a Dingell alert.

by Dave Burstein of DSL Prime and Future of TV [December 8, 2006]

Editorial: Republicans Should Become the Party of Ethics
"Corruption did the GOP in." Dick Morris on the U.S. election.
Robert McDowell has a reputation for honesty, exactly what the Republicans need after the recent scandals. Earl Comstock, who until a few months ago signed Robert McDowell's paycheck at COMPTEL recently claimed, "Approving the proposed AT&T/BellSouth merger and allowing the Bell companies to further enhance their already prodigious market power will undermine competition, thwart innovation and broadband deployment, and hurt our nation's economy."

The L.A. Times notes "federal law calls for recusal whenever 'a reasonable person' might question impartiality. The law applies to all federal employees. Former Chairman Bill Kennard adds ""A recusal is a personal decision. It's an ethical decision that someone has to make," he said. "Once you've said you're not comfortable voting on a particular issue, it's very hard later to reverse yourself."

Despite that, FCC counsel Sam Feder is almost certainly going to find a loophole to force McDowell to vote. His decision is likely to read very closely to what AT&T lawyer Bruce Fein wrote last Friday.

The obvious "compromise" on Net Neutrality and Special Access
Enforce AT&T promises not to degrade
Whitacre testified to the U.S. Senate that they "would not block or degrade" anything coming from the Internet; Cicconi, his man in D.C., keeps repeating the same words, and folks like Ted Stevens take this at face value. Test the network by sending video from the edge and prove to Martin the content really does get with through with minimal packet loss and degradation. Add reasonable peering and decent customer speeds, and video will get through.

On Net Neutrality, that's the minimum. Accepting anything less (like "principles") is the mark of a fool or a hypocrite.

On special access, Rick Lindner told the UBS audience, "Special Access rates have been declining as a result of competition." Actually, even a monopoly would logically be dropping rates for these data services, because costs are declining rapidly (due to the effect of Moore's Law on switches and other necessary gear). They therefore have no reason to reject a freeze because the effect is nil if rates are declining.

The only way for Martin and McDowell to save their reputations is to make sure the deal, if it goes through, is fair. Time for Martin to call Ed Whitacre, and tell him what it will take. Otherwise, everyone informed except D.C. sycophants will lose their remaining respect.

Whitacre will give Martin what he asks, unless he really wants to kill the deal. "We're absolutely committed to the BellSouth deal." Rick Lindner, AT&T CFO just said at UBS. But they haven't proven that in D.C. "AT&T has offered a number of concessions, which we do not view as materially valuation affecting" David Janazzo, Merrill Lynch.

And here's one reminding all the Democrats aren't always honorable, either.

Politicians Sweep Midterm Elections (The Onion headline)
Larry Marshak of AP is perhaps too cynical. "On Day 1 of the next session of Congress, newly empowered Democrats are promising restrictive rules to 'break the link between lobbyists and legislation.' The city's veteran lobbyists know what to expect on Day 2: requests for political donations from the Capitol's new stewards."

In particular, Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein at the FCC have shown extraordinary courage and independence. However, the changeover to Democrats in Congress does not assure independence.

John Dingell, taking over the House Commerce Committee, has already hired Verizon lobbyist Gregg Rothschild as his new chief counsel. Drew Clark has some powerful reporting on Dingell's ties:

"John Dingell was once one of the Bell's closest friends. He took their campaign contributions and, for more than two decades, promoted their legislative priorities on Capitol Hill….Dingell has supported the Bells through legislation and through oversight of the Federal Communications Commission. And the Bells, in turn, have supported him. Among telecommunications, media and technology companies, BellSouth is the single largest donor to Dingell campaigns since 1997. The company's employees and political action committee have contributed $108,875 of his $936,566 total telecom and related industry receipts from 1997 to June 2006. The figures come from an immense database of campaign contribution and lobbyist spending by all segments of the information industries that the Center for Public Integrity's Well Connected Project today makes available for free on the Internet.."

Clark adds "It's a relationship that soured only within the past year." quoting Dingell on the new telecom bill, "This was decided by a very unprincipled lobby."

Copyright 2006 Dave Burstein.
The DSL Prime Newsletter is reprinted with permission.

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