New FCC Chairman Asking Meeting-Seekers to Fill Out Questionnaires

Genachowski is still reviewing many issues that awaited FCC action when he got to the commission and is still putting together his teams in most of the offices and bureaus, agency officials said Tuesday. Many key positions have yet to be filled. While Genachowski appointed Ruth Milkman as Wireless Bureau chief last week, she has yet to assume those duties. Jamie Barnett, the retired rear admiral named to head the Public Safety Bureau, has only been at the commission since Monday. Genachowski may not be prepared to signal his stance on various key orders for another month and not until after the various bureau chiefs have a chance to meet with interested parties, agency officials said.

Genachowski has been asking meeting seekers to fill in the form since the first day he became chairman. The questionnaire speaks to Genachowski’s desire to develop policy based on the advice of the various bureaus and offices, agency and industry officials said Tuesday. It asks for two to three paragraphs explaining “the precise issue” to be raised in a meeting with the chairman’s office, noting answers should be submitted by e-mail. The questionnaire also asks for electronic copies of ex parte letters or handouts recently used in other, related commission meetings. It also requests meeting seekers to identify pending proceedings related to the meeting, asking them to “please confirm” they've notified participants in restricted proceedings if the matters will be discussed. The document also asks whether any participants will be registered lobbyists if Recovery Act “funding or policy issues” will be raised.

Parties should submit a “brief statement” on whether they've met with a bureau on the issue at hand, the form said. “It is the general expectation that parties will meet with the relevant Bureau and/or Office staff in advance of meeting with the Chairman’s office.” That will prevent end- runs around bureaus, which “happens on occasion,” said Media Access Project President Andrew Schwartzman.

The questionnaire marks the first time in recent memory any FCC member has requested such disclosures before meetings, said communications lawyers. Veteran broadcast attorney Vincent Curtis said he'd never been asked to complete such a document, noting a partner at his firm was asked to fill one out before discussing an issue by phone with a Genachowski aide. None of the five commissioners during Chairman Kevin Martin’s tenure used such a document, said Schwartzman. But previous commissioners have, he said. “I recall filling out similar types of questionnaires” but “it hasn’t been in recent years.”

“I think it’s a good idea” as long as all seeking meetings must complete the form, and it will help Genachowski aides prepare for the gatherings, Curtis said. “It gets them to get the right people in place: If you ask a broadcast question, you want a broadcast person there. If you ask a wireless question, then they will have a wireless person there.” He hopes responses to questionnaires will be made available publicly and online, perhaps on Genachowski’s FCC Web page. Schwartzman noted that responses to the questionnaires could be obtained by anyone who files a Freedom of Information Act request for them. An FCC spokeswoman declined to comment on the questionnaires.

It appears the FCC will require parties seeking to set up meetings “to submit a significant amount of information in advance,” said Thomas Jones, an attorney for competitive local exchange carriers. Jones hasn’t had a meeting under the new process, but said required information includes “the subject to the meeting, the relevant dockets, copies of prior filings in the relevant docket by the party seeking the meeting and a list of FCC officials with whom the party has met regarding the issue in the past.”