Senators, White House Mum on FCC Nominations
Questions continue to surround the pending nominations to replace outgoing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Robert McDowell, as lawmakers refused to say who, if anyone, had percolated to the top of the list. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., continued to stump for FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to replace outgoing Chairman Julius Genachowski as the top Democrat on the commission. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, again declined to say whether he had endorsed his congressional aide, Michael O'Rielly, to replace outgoing Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell.
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Rockefeller told reporters Monday he had not heard back from the White House on his recent letter endorsing Rosenworcel, his former Senate aide. Last month, the chairman gathered the signatures of thirty-seven senators asking President Barack Obama to designate Rosenworcel as chairman. Rockefeller said the White House’s silence on the issue was “not surprising” but declined to elaborate further. Rockefeller has had “frequent communications” with the White House about his advocacy for Rosenworcel to become FCC chair, his spokesman later clarified via email, but said Rockefeller had not received a formal response from the White House to the letter. The White House didn’t comment. Rockefeller said he thought the letter “will have a lot of credence” but said he wouldn’t guess who will become the president’s eventual nomination: “I'm not going to bet against myself.”
Rockefeller told reporters he continued to have concerns about another rumored candidate for the post, Tom Wheeler. In particular, Rockefeller said he’s concerned that Wheeler, now managing partner at Core Capital Partners, was president of CTIA from 1992 to 2003 and CEO of NCTA from 1979-1984. “A lobbyist is a lobbyist and he was lobbying for some of the things he would be making decisions about,” Rockefeller said.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., separately told us he also had not spoken with the administration about nominating Rosenworcel as FCC chairman, following a subcommittee hearing Monday. Pryor, who signed Rockefeller’s letter endorsing Rosenworcel, said Rockefeller was leading the push for Rosenworcel’s nomination, but Pryor thinks she “has the leadership skills to be chairman. It’s a hard job to be chairman of the FCC. It’s very, very competitive and it’s hard to make everybody happy. So you need someone like Jessica who is smart and knows the issues.”
Cornyn said he “would hate to lose” O'Rielly as a congressional aide, but did not explicitly endorse him as a nominee during in an interview at the Capitol. “He’s a good man, but we will see what happens. I don’t have any special knowledge. I don’t really have any information on his prospects.” Separately Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member John Thune, R-S.D., said he hadn’t endorsed any candidate to replace McDowell but said he thought O'Rielly, who he said was previously vetted to serve on the commission, would make a “good candidate.” Government and industry officials have named O'Rielly a likely candidate to replace McDowell, also mentioning House Commerce Committee aide Ray Baum; Neil Fried, chief counsel to the House Communications Subcommittee; and former State Department official David Gross, now at Wiley Rein (CD March 21 p1).