Last Thursday, House Majority Whip James Clyburn and Congressmen Keith Ellison and Jim Himes delighted a new group of students and interns from across DC in the latest installment of 21st Century Democrats' Youth Leadership Speaker Series!
There are five seats in the FCC, and "only three commissioners may be members of the same political party." For the next five years, the FCC will have a 3-2 Democratic majority, once the remaining Republican open seat has been filled. That makes this appointment by President Obama the key swing vote that will largely determine FCC policy and regulation over the next five years.
The reason Mignon Clyburn is such a worrying pick is that she is the daughter of South Carolina Representative James Clyburn, who has an anti-Net Neutrality record:
In 2006, Representative Clyburn voted againstH. Amdt. 987 to ensure that network neutrality clauses be added to the Title VII of the Communication Act of 1934. The amendment required all broadband service provides to "operate its broadband network in a nondiscriminatory manner so that any person can offer or provide content, applications, and services through, or over, such broadband network with equivalent or better capability than the provider extends to itself or affiliated parties, and without the imposition of a charge for such nondiscriminatory network operation."
Here's what we do know. Clyburn serves on the South Carolina public service commission (which is considered very pro-Bell). She is virtually unknown by knowledgeable telecom people. And, she seems to have focused more on energy issues than telecom, if early accounts are to be believed. Plus, Verizon and the cable trade association are very happy. All in all, not good.
And check out this creepy comment that appeared below the Washington Post story on Clyburn's appointment:
At Sprint Nextel, we believe that Mignon Clyburn would bring experience, deep policy understanding and the perspective of a state utility commissioner to the FCC. We have worked with her in South Carolina where she has served on that state's Public Service Commission and we look forward to working with her again on any number of issues including restoring competition to the failed special access markets that are stifling broadband deployment in our country.
John Taylor
Public Affairs
Sprint Nextel Corp.
Feel reassured about the new deciding FCC vote on net neutrality and open media yet? This is a dangerous and risky appointment by President Obama that will need extensive clarification in the coming days and weeks leading up to her confirmation hearing. It seems possible that more information will be revealed that will demand a withdrawal of the appointment.
Media is one of the five most dominant ideological institutions in our country (work, school, worship, and family / demography being the other four). Also, the rise of self-publishing and social networking options created by the network netural Internet has created a cultural explosion that is both unparalleled in human history and helped turn the country in a largely progressive. This may sometimes seem like a wonky boutique issue, but over the long-term it is as essential to the progressive movement, and indeed an improved world, as any other area of policy.
Today, driving home from work listening to NPR on my satellite radio, I was delighted to hear House Majority Whip Clyburn confront the conservative anti-government ethos head on.
Republicans want to work with President Obama. We appreciate his message of hope -- but sometimes it seems we look for hope in different places. Democratic leaders in Washington place their hope in the federal government. We place our hope in you -- the American people.
The host asked a (meandering) question about the dim prospects of working with Republicans if they believe this, and Clyburn chose to instead cut at the (ideological) root of Jindal's attack on Democrats:
A bell rings. The sound reverberates. A sentiment shared aloud resonates within the heart, mind, body, and soul of persons who heard the message. No matter the actions taken afterward, sullen statements are not easily erased from memory.
Days before Congress was asked to pass the stimulus package, the President uttered the now famous phrase; "I won," Republicans, as could have been expected, expressed resentment. Immediately, subsequent to President Obama's statement Democrats were said to have followed the Chief Executive's lead. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was asked if he thought Republicans might block the initiative. Empathically, he replied; "No." Today we know differently. In the House, the measure received no support from the Grand Old Party.
As we await approval from the Senate we may wish to consider, the past. Words that evoke division have a lasting effect.
Please peruse a missive penned shortly after President Obama reacted to pressure from the "Right."
Last week, Al Wynn did a fundraiser at the office of a nuclear energy giant. He's doing another one, this time at a lobbying firm called Platinum Advisors. Instead of energy interests, this time it's telecom and cable interests. I've included the invitation and the email that came with it. James Clyburn, John Dingell, JK Butterfield, Bobby Rush, and Ed Towns are cohosting. Towns and Rush are two of the Verizon five.
Subject: Rep. Al Wynn Event Hosted by Whip Clyburn, Chairman Dingell and Rep.s Towns, Rush and Butterfield - Jan 15th
rep. al wynn, a key member of the energy and commerce committee, has a tough primary race on his hands and could lose.
he has been a dedicated public servant and understands the business community like few others.
if you care about, al, please help us help him.
the event is next tuesday from 4 - 6 pm at 514 seward square, se.
thanks and have a great weekend.
What's weird about this invitation is how proud AT&T and company are in doing the fundraiser and putting their names at the top. The PAC directors no longer realize that what they are doing is repulsive.
The aesthetics of corruption are tacky and insular, not evil. If you care about al is a personal touch. There is wide notice of this race among a certain slice of the telecom and energy lobbying world, and among certain incumbents.
No one cares that Larry Craig is gay, or even closeted. It's an open secret that there are closeted Senators on both sides of the aisle, and Republican gay staffers are so open in their giant GOP closet that they were even targeted as a 'velvet mafia' by the religious right during the Foley scandal.
What is significant is that Senator Larry Craig is an obvious psychopath, willing to lie about being gay while voting to deny rights to others. It's also significant that Mitt Romney scrubbed Larry Craig out of existence on his web site as if he was never Romney's Senate liaison.
Craig and Romney are part of a larger story of the Republican Party - that they are two faced phonies who have one set of rules for themselves and another set for everyone else. They send the country to war but their kids don't fight. They venerate the market while living on defense contracts and wingnut welfare. To Republicans, everything is projection, and the only sin is getting caught in public.
This is a great time to make that case, to reinforce the narrative that Republicans are big phonies. Instinctively, that's not what Democrats tend to do. Democrats have been mostly silent, with a few exceptions.
For the most part, Democrats studiously avoided involvement with an unfolding Republican scandal.
"We at least ought to hear his side of the story.," said Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said his party stood to gain. "All of these people who (are) holier than thou are now under investigations. ... I think the Republican Party will find itself in a great peril next year," he said.
The public has figured out that Republicans are macho phonies, and that the most homophobic figures in the country are often very gay. See Haggard, Ted. What's missing is drawing the bright line between Republican character flaws, which is about hating yourself and turning that hatred onto innocent people through sadistic policies, and Republican governance. It's a case we should start making in earnest, and the language is there for the taking.
Jane Hamsher and Kagro X have an interesting supplement to my post on the procedural disaster that was the FISA bill. Selise wrote a detailed timeline for the Senate here, and one for the House here.
The upshot is that the Democratic leaders chose to pass this bill through procedural failures and by cutting out civil liberties groups. The Blue Dogs would have sabotaged their own leadership, but leadership didn't give them the chance by quickly passing Bush's bill all on their own. Either Pelosi wanted this bill passed or the Blue Dogs are challenging her control of the caucus overtly.
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