Smaller Bills, Not Big Comms Act Rewrite, Are Future, Dick Wiley Says

are probably the future norm, said former FCC Chairman Dick Wiley Tuesday at a Hudson Institute talk. The Wiley Rein co-founder said big, comprehensive communications legislation also isn't likely to be taken up at least until Congress settles the net neutrality issue. Wiley said the Sunshine Act, while well intentioned, has led to commissioners' meetings being scripted affairs and hurt the ability of commissioners to narrow differences and have working relationships. He said the law needs amending -- perhaps by allowing non-decisional meetings -- but the likelihood of that happening is slim "because it sounds like you're against transparency." Commissioner appointments coming from the Hill instead of the president has resulted in people who are highly qualified but often coming in with ties to the Hill and strong political viewpoints, Wiley said. He said FCC and other regulatory agencies have become politicized "little Congresses." He said the drawback of the old appointment process, where the president appointed commissioners from both parties, was too much homogeneity. Building camaraderie among commissioners would be tougher since the partisan divide is stronger, Wiley said. With a couple of exceptions -- like Ronald Reagan pushing the agency on keeping the rule governing TV program financing and syndication and Barack Obama's push on Title II regulation of the internet -- concern about White House influence on the FCC is overstated, Wiley said. Even when the Nixon administration was supposedly pushing the agency to block Washington Post Co. purchase of radio stations, "I never got a call on anything," he said. From a lobbying standpoint, that commissioners feel inclined to put out statements on every item adopted is helpful for knowing the thinking of that member, he said.