Dingell Tells Martin to Cooperate with FCC Investigation
FCC Chairman Martin must “immediately notify” FCC aides of their right to communicate with Congress, House Commerce Committee leaders said in a letter sent Tuesday to Martin. The instructions are related to an investigation that the committee began Dec. 3 to examine whether the FCC’s regulatory practices are fair and open. Among commitments sought was a promise that Martin would publish the text of proposed rules before commission meetings to give adequate time for review.
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 committee is launching a “formal investigation,” following up on a preliminary inquiry, said the letter signed by Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich.; ranking member Joe Barton, R-Texas; Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and the subcommittee’s ranking member John Shimkus, R-Ill. The committee plans to issue a “comprehensive document request in the near future” and it will address a “growing number of allegations received by the committee… that may adversely affect the agency’s operation.” An FCC spokesman had no comment on the letter, but he said Martin provided a detailed description of the agency’s document-retention system to the committee after Dingell’s initial request.
Commerce Committee staff will interview FCC employees and other witnesses in preparation for an oversight hearing this year, the letter said. “We intend to conduct this investigation so as to cause minimal disruption to the orderly function of the FCC and the important work of its employees,” the letter said. The letter warned Martin that it’s against Federal law to retaliate against whistleblowers, citing provisions protecting them.
Martin was told to immediately preserve all electronic records, including work e-mail and personal e-mail relating to official work of the commission, and calendars and schedules of all employees. “To be clear, no such records shall be destroyed, modified, altered, deleted, removed… or intentionally handled so as to make them inaccessible to the committee,” the letter said.
The FCC must halt routine practices of recycling, destroying, deleting or shredding documents, the letter said. “All records should be preserved,” it said. “We ask that you provide unedited and unredacted copies of this letter to all employees and contractors of the FCC.”