FairPoint Communications and foes of its acquisition of Verizon l...
FairPoint Communications and foes of its acquisition of Verizon landline assets in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are running mass media campaigns trying to exert indirect sway on the three state utility commissions that must approve for the deal…
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to close. All three states have closed their records and are in deliberations, eliminating direct lobbying of the commissions. A spokesman for the IBEW local enrolling Verizon workers in northern New England, which opposes the merger, said the commissions are supposed to rule based on the case record, but “they're making the decisions in an environment, and everyone is trying to affect that environment.” Walter Leach, FairPoint executive vice president for corporate development, said such affairs have “become a political process,” bringing election-style campaigning to bear on what technically is a non-political matter. Each side blames the other for starting the media war over whether FairPoint can live up to promises it made to extend broadband service to homes and businesses in rural portions of the three states.