Ex-FCC Member Rivera Said Off Commission Transition Team
As the new administration jells, changes are said to be occurring to the roster of those advising President-elect Barack Obama (CD Nov 12 p1) on who to pick for key agency posts. Among recent changes is said to be the apparent departure of broadcast lawyer Henry Rivera, a former FCC member, from a lead role in commission transition planning efforts, according to about a dozen media and telecom lawyers observing the transition. Transition team members themselves are forbidden to discuss any personnel moves.
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Rivera apparently ran afoul of new Obama transition rules barring transition advisory work by individuals in areas where they have lobbied the past year, industry and FCC officials said. Others involved in transition planning may have been affected by the lobbying rules and changed roles, some said. The former commissioner is thought to be no longer helping plan the next FCC, some veteran industry lawyers said. He was thought to be among those running that effort until the Obama lobbying rules emerged, industry attorneys said. John Podesta, co-chairman of all transition planning, has called those mandates the “most far reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history.”
“If someone has lobbied in the past 12 months, they are prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied,” the rules declare. Rivera, who didn’t reply to messages seeking comment, hasn’t commented publicly on his role in the transition. Rivera, a Democrat, was an FCC commissioner from 1981-1985.
Rivera may have removed himself from all transition work because the rules also bar transition officials from lobbying in their fields for a year afterwards, media and telecom lawyers said. That limitation resembles the one-year recusal imposed on those leaving the commission, they said. “If someone becomes a lobbyist after working on the Transition, they are prohibited from lobbying the Administration for 12 months on matters on which they worked,” said the guidelines. Obeying that rule would cost Rivera money he could earn lobbying, lawyers not involved with transition planning said.
It’s unclear whether Rivera’s current tenure at law firm Wiley Rein figured in his apparent exit. The firm is headed by Richard Wiley, a Republican who led the FCC from 1974-1977 and who is said to be close to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Rivera’s stint with the firm may have caused the appearance - - if not the reality -- of a conflict of interest, industry officials said. Others downplayed that possibility, saying Obama’s lobbying rules seem to have been the trigger. The rules may have led others hoping to be involved in FCC transition planning to step back, said several lawyers.
Obama soon may announce who will manage or co-manage the FCC transition, said a communications attorney. A spokesman for the transition declined to comment on future announcements or personnel moves: “We're not confirming or denying anyone other than the people mentioned on the releases.”