The Increasing Politicization of the FCC

The Federal Communications Commission is no stranger to controversial issues -- remember the ruckus over the Janet Jackson Super Bowl halftime show? But network neutrality has taken things to a new level, and that has people wondering if the agency is politicized beyond repair.

That hostility was on full display Feb 26 as the commission voted 3-2 to approve sweeping net-neutrality regulations to ensure all Internet traffic is treated equally. The three Democratic commissioners celebrated an action that they said would protect Internet freedom, and the two Republicans accused their colleagues of seizing control of the Internet. "I do think it is more polarized than I've ever seen," said Robert McDowell, a Republican who served as an FCC commissioner from 2006 to 2013. "Having said that, if we're judging it purely from today, that probably skews the emotion of the moment." According to Harold Feld, the senior vice president of Public Knowledge and a net-neutrality advocate, the real culprit behind the nastier tone of FCC debates is not President Obama, but FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. "Pai has been a man of hyperbolic hysterics as a way of driving the agenda since he got there," Feld said. "When you have a bully, it's not like you have a problem with the school yard -- you have a bully," he added.