The Telecommunications Development Fund (TDF), set up by Congress...
The Telecommunications Development Fund (TDF), set up by Congress to help small communications firms get started, has spent nearly as much on salaries as it has investing in companies, according to an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The study released late Wed. said TDF paid $7.25 million in executive salaries and administrative costs from 1998 through 2001 while investing $9.4 million in 7 companies. The center also questioned why FCC Chmn. Powell appointed himself to the board, saying there could be conflicts in the top regulator’s having involvement in a venture capital fund. An FCC spokesman noted that the Telecom Act, which created TDF, required the FCC to have a representative on the board, along with representatives of the Small Business Administration and the Treasury Dept. and 4 public members. Then-FCC Chmn. William Kennard also was on TDF, the spokesman said. TDF is funded by interest payments on up-front deposits paid by companies participating in spectrum auctions. The study also said TDF CEO Ginger Lew, ex-Small Business Administration, was paid $245,000 in 2001 and said she had connections to John Huang, who was involved in a campaign finance scandal during the Clinton Administration that was known as China-gate. The center’s news release quoted Lew as saying her only connection to Huang was that they worked at the Commerce Dept. at the same time. The center also questioned why the board of directors and its advisory board were almost entirely made up of representatives of large companies, saying there should be input from small business representatives.