FCC chief’s painstaking approach earns mixed reviews in turbulent times for telecom industry

When he isn’t chairing the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski enjoys a seat at a poker table. And as it turns out, he approaches cards much like he regulates: with great caution.

Quiet, brainy and restrained, the nation’s top telecom cop and law school friend of the president takes pains to carefully evaluate each hand. He typically shies away from high-stakes, high-risk rounds. Instead, he’ll stick with Texas Hold ’Em long enough to size up rivals, but not long enough to test his luck — even with a decent hand, according to people who have played with him in the homes of Beltway government officials, journalists and sports pros. But in a town full of aggressive lobbyists paid to bend the FCC’s positions in their favor, that careful and measured approach can be frustrating. Genachowski has sometimes been seen as a regulatory Hamlet, deliberating over details as powerful companies push impatiently for action. His term at the agency ends next summer, and while Genachowski hasn’t announced plans for departure, he is widely expected to leave as soon as the administration can arrange for a successor. After two successive Republican chairmen who had generally been restrained in exercising regulatory authority, Genachowski entered the job with the intent of staking out the government’s claim over the fast-growing Internet industry.