Clyburn, Rosenworcel Early FCC Chair Front-Runners if Biden Elected

Among others likely in the discussion are Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David Cohen, who raised money for the campaign and is close to Biden, and Steve Ricchetti, Biden’s chief of staff when he was vice president. Covington lawyer Terrell McSweeny, a former FTC commissioner, was a policy aide to Biden when he was vice president. Former NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling advises the campaign on domestic policy. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks could also get a look as could Gigi Sohn of the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy. Rosenworcel or Starks could be designated chair and wouldn’t require Senate confirmation first. None commented Wednesday.

Clyburn's father is House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., whose endorsement of Biden helped him win the South Carolina primary and the presumptive nomination. The former commissioner has added consulting clients, including T-Mobile, Microsoft and Google, that could complicate her nomination. Several candidates face similar challenges. “It’s easier to get someone confirmed out of government, academia or a think tank,” said a former senior FCC official.

A Biden administration would be under pressure to “ensure diversity of appointments in terms of race, gender and sexual orientation,” while “the tension between progressives and centrists is going to play out in Biden's cabinet selection,” said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. “One thing progressives have clearly learned since the Obama days is that appointments matter,” he said: “We are also past the days where non-cabinet level agencies like the FCC or FTC are considered too low level to fight about. The huge fight over net neutrality, and now the fights over platforms like Facebook and Amazon, have sensitized progressive activists and progressive members of Congress to the importance of these agencies.”

“The focus now should be policy, not personality,” said former Commissioner Michael Copps, now at Common Cause: “The litmus test for chairperson is someone who breathes the clean fresh air of protecting the public interest and, fortunately, there are such people. Who that ends up being is up to the president, so if we are going to focus on any individual at this point, it would be the two candidates and their policy commitments.”

Clyburn Kudos

Clyburn “has already demonstrated her capability to lead the FCC” as interim chair in 2013," emailed former Chairman Tom Wheeler. "While many would see that as a caretaker role, Mignon took on tough issues such as prison payphones that had languished at the Commission for a decade," he said. "She is tough yet compassionate, decisive yet open to listen to all."

"Clyburn did a very good job” as interim chair, said New Street's Blair Levin. In addition to her, the two sitting Democratic commissioners also are possible candidates, he said. Republicans tend to pick from existing people on the commission to chair the FCC, but Democratic administrations don't, said Levin, who was chief of staff to then-Chairman Reed Hundt. He said he would include Strickling among the most likely candidates. Levin also suggested McKinsey & Co. attorney Louisa Terrell as a possible candidate. She's former executive director of the Biden Foundation and worked with Biden in the Senate.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us she would look favorably on a Biden nomination of Clyburn as FCC chair. “I’d be for” Clyburn, though “there’s lots of issues you’d want to discuss” about the commission's policy direction, Cantwell said. “She was a great advocate of net neutrality” and other telecom policy matters of importance to Democrats. Cantwell cautioned she doesn’t have a preference yet for anyone to lead a potential majority-Democrat FCC. “Don’t make me choose” now, Cantwell said.

Cantwell would likely be one of Capitol Hill’s most influential Democratic voices advising a future Biden administration on its choice for FCC chair and other commissioners, just as former Senate Commerce ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., was during past sessions, lobbyists told us. The ultimate Hill Democratic arbiter would still be Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who was instrumental in Trump’s decision to nominate Starks (see 1803090040), lobbyists said. Schumer’s office didn’t comment.

Telecom Experts

When Biden was a senator, telecom was never his focus, "but there are a lot of people around him who know a lot about telecom," said The Irving Group Principal Larry Irving. Biden's running mate could play a role in selecting the next chair, he said. If Sen. Kamala Harris is Biden's vice presidential pick, for instance, "the tech industry in California would be all over it," Irving said.

The three most recent Democratic commissioners -- Rosenworcel, Starks and Clyburn -- are likely on any short list, Irving said. "If Mignon wants it, she's high on the list," he said. "She has the experience, and her father is also very close to the Bidens."

Putting someone like Cohen, who is “white, male and corporate,” in the chair “would burn a ton of political points for Biden,” Feld said. McSweeny and Clyburn don’t necessarily have that same problem, he said. Both “have well established records of being strong public interest advocates before they went into private practice,” he said. Feld noted that the vice president Biden picks could also play a role in the selection and may have her own candidates for the FCC.

When President Donald Trump took office, “he was coming in as an outsider with relatively few personal connections in D.C. politics” and it was natural for him to promote then-Commissioner Ajit Pai to the chairmanship, said R Street Institute Tech Policy Manager Tom Struble. He believes Biden could follow a similar path. Rosenworcel and Starks are “attorneys with a clear track record working at the FCC, so I think either would be up for the job and could get the necessary backing in Congress,” Struble said. “If Strickling or another former NTIA staffer takes over, that could help resolve some of the interagency spectrum disputes that are still ongoing and help improve the inter-agency processes to avoid similar disputes in the future,” he said: “Bringing in McSweeny or another former FTC staffer could also make sense.”

As a commissioner, Clyburn greatly enjoyed representing the FCC internationally, said Adonis Hoffman, her former chief of staff. Hoffman said he hasn’t spoken with her about the matter. Though her qualifications to be FCC chair are “without question,” she could seek a position as an ambassador or something linked to international relations, he said. “She served a long time, and she doesn’t like to be predictable,” he said. If Clyburn does want to be chair, “she would be at the top of the list,” Hoffman said.