Ex-FCC Officials Give Comcast/TWC Deal a Boost

“Yeah, it means your phone calls get answered," said former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley, now head of Wiley Rein’s communications practice. "But do you get the right answer?” In a deal valued at about $66 billion, Comcast in February agreed to buy Time Warner Cable. Charter stands to get some divested cable systems. Comcast also employs many ex-Capitol Hill aides and some lawmakers as part of its lobbying (see 1412230028">1412230028).

Even if the effect of the revolving door on actual FCC processes is minimal, the appearance of such an effect is damaging to the commission’s integrity and decision-making, said ex-Commissioner Michael Copps, whose own former aide Jordan Goldstein is Comcast’s vice president-regulatory affairs. Though he called Goldstein one of the finest public servants he’s ever known, Copps said former FCC officials lobbying the agency is a “pernicious problem” that makes it harder for government to function, by destroying public trust. “Credibility is very low -- that makes for a very difficult environment to get anything done,” said Copps, who lobbies his former agency himself, opposing Comcast/TWC on behalf of public interest group Common Cause.

A survey of FCC ex parte filings and online resumes and biographies shows that along with Goldstein, several other former FCC staffers represent Comcast before the commission. Comcast Executive Director-Regulatory Policy Mary McManus is formerly of the Office of General Counsel and Wireline Bureau, while Comcast Executive Director-Regulatory Policy James Coltharp was special counsel to Acting Chairman James Quello. Comcast Executive Director-Government Affairs Michael Ruger is formerly of the FCC’s now defunct Cable Bureau, while Comcast Vice President-Global Public Policy Rudy Brioche is a former aide to then-Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. In a controversial move at the time, Comcast in 2011 hired Meredith Baker, an FCC commissioner at the time who had just approved the company's buy of control in NBCUniversal. Baker now leads CTIA. That association had no comment.

Now at the commission, Chairman Tom Wheeler’s aide Daniel Alvarez represented Comcast while an attorney at Wilkie Farr, and Senior Counselor Philip Verveer did consulting work for Comcast, also while at Wilkie Farr. A Communications Daily Freedom of Information Act request for information about other former Comcast and TWC employees working at the FCC was denied as being “unduly burdensome.” Alvarez and Verveer were "subject to the ethics rules that bar meetings with former colleagues, clients, firms or issues involving specific parties,” for a period of time after moving to government work, an FCC spokesman said. That includes transactions, the spokesman said. However, Verveer is no longer subject to those rules, the spokesman said. "It's been five years since I represented a private party," Verveer told us. He said that he didn't feel that his private work affected his work for the commission. Charter, Comcast, TWC and their employees and attorneys didn’t comment.

Law Firm Attorneys

Along with its own employees, Comcast has secured the services of several telecom attorneys with previous FCC experience.

The lawyers include several at Wilkinson Barker, including Bryan Tramont, former chief of staff to then-FCC Chairman and now-NCTA CEO Michael Powell, and former Enforcement Bureau Chief David Solomon. Comcast also has been represented before the FCC by former Common Carrier Bureau Chief Richard Metzger -- now heading the communications practice at Metzger Keeney. Harris Wiltshire attorney Paul Margie, another former aide to Copps, also has represented Comcast.

TWC and Charter also use former FCC staff.

Charter Senior Vice President-Government Relations Alex Hoehn-Saric was an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel until fall 2013, while Executive Vice President-Government Affairs Catherine Bohigian was an aide to then-Chairman Kevin Martin. Charter is also represented by former FCC General Counsel Sam Feder, now with Jenner and Block. That law firm’s John Flynn, who led the FCC’s review of Comcast/NBCUniversal, also represents Charter.

TWC Senior Vice President-Government Relations Steven Teplitz is formerly of the Common Carrier Bureau, and his colleague, Corporate Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Terri Natoli, was a division chief in the Wireline Bureau. TWC has also engaged the services of Latham & Watkins attorney Matthew Brill, a former aide to then-FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy. Abernathy herself, who used to work at Wilkinson Barker, now is at Frontier Communications, a telco.

Undue Influence?

Cable executives, the public interest community and former FCC officials who have gone private disagree over how much influence is gained from having so many former commission employees on one’s side.

“People who are in government take their integrity seriously,” Wiley said. He believes Comcast’s ex-FCC representatives have insight into how the commission works, and may have contacts among the staff, but don’t wield the kind of influence that would substantially tilt a review process. Cinnamon Mueller cable attorney Barbara Esbin, a 14-year FCC veteran, agrees: “They know how the place works, the trajectory of a rulemaking -- some days this stuff comes in useful.”

Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman wants stronger rules against former officials lobbying their colleagues, but he somewhat agrees with Wiley, saying the influence is a subtle one. With the number of former commission officials representing companies in Comcast/TWC, "it gives them a disproportionate influence,” he said. Though he doesn’t ascribe sinister motives to that influence, he said there should be more safeguards against it. "It’s only human to be responsive to a former colleague,” he said.

Free Press Senior Director-Strategy Timothy Karr sees no subtlety in the revolving door's effect. The influence of the ex-FCC officials lobbying their colleagues “is not overstated,” he said. “The FCC has [a] pretty deplorable track record when it comes to doing its job to protect localism and competition.” That record is “a direct byproduct of the revolving door,” he said. Free Press opposes Comcast/TWC, and Schwartzman has filed in opposition to the deal on behalf of a client.

Comcast, TWC and Charter aren't alone in snapping up those with FCC experience, said Karr, who has been working to compile statistics on the revolving door. According to Karr, more than 80 percent of former FCC commissioners and chairmen end up employed by a consultant for or legal counsel to a company they previously regulated. That statistic is not surprising or sinister, said former FCC official turned cable consultant Steve Effros. “When I left the FCC, I was one of the experts on the commission’s laws for cable television. What was I supposed to do, get a job as a chocolatier?”

Karr and others point to concern about jobs as being one of the more insidious aspects of the revolving door. “There’s no question that the expectation among staffers of earning high salaried incomes in the private sector affects their performance,” Karr said. Concern about future jobs can lead staffers to avoid overly harsh treatment of possible future employers, he said: “The net effect is favorable to companies.”

The FCC’s apparent tough stance in its review of Comcast/TWC lends support to this perception of the revolving door, one cable executive told us. Wheeler is believed not to be seeking another job after his chairmanship, giving him a free hand to examine the transaction, the cable executive said. Other cable attorneys pointed to the commission’s rigorous probing of the current transaction as evidence that the influence of the revolving door isn’t that effective, but Karr said the proof will be in the result of the deal review. “That remains to be seen,” Karr said. “We don’t know where the FCC is going -- Comcast wields immense political power in Washington."