February 2017

[Commentary] The Washington Post noted that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai likes to talk the talk of bridging the digital divide—during his first speech as FCC chairman, he said it would be a top agency priority. But when the FCC released his anti-Lifeline action days later, “he opened another gap,” wrote the Post, “this time between his words and his actions.” It’s the sort of head fake that’s familiar to those who’ve followed Pai’s career as a lead apologist for the phone companies he once worked for—and still serves.

This list of Pai’s miscues on key policy issues makes amply clear the many harmful directions the new FCC chairman will lead the agency through the Trump years.

• Commissioner Pai on the 2015 Net Neutrality Proceeding: “[The ruling is] President Obama’s plan to regulate the Internet. ... Was this proceeding ‘one of the most open and transparent in Commission history’? Not in the least.”
• Commissioner Pai on the Threat to an Open Internet: “[Net neutrality] regulation was a solution that wouldn’t work for a problem that didn’t exist.”
• Commissioner Pai on the Impact the Net Neutrality Rules Have Had on Investment: “Growth in broadband investment has ... flatlined.” “We need to fire up the weed whacker and remove those rules that are holding back investment, innovation, and job creation ... [net neutrality’s] days are numbered.”
• Commissioner Pai on the FCC Effort to Protect Broadband-User Data from Prying ISPs: “Instead of respecting ... common sense ... the FCC tilts the regulatory playing field by proposing to impose more burdensome regulation on internet service providers, or ISPs, than the FTC imposes on so-called ‘edge providers.’”
• Commissioner Pai on Offering Affordable Broadband to Those in Need: “If we are going to refocus Lifeline on broadband, our goal should be increasing broadband adoption—that is, helping Americans without internet access across the digital divide, not supporting those who have already made the leap.”

Most of a dozen Democratic members of Congress are calling on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to vote on clarifications to the FCC's political ad disclosure rules. That came in a letter Feb 22 to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. On Feb 3, the Pai FCC set aside the clarifications and accompanying admonitions and warnings to stations, saying they should have been voted on by the commissioners rather than decided by the Media Bureau on delegated authority.

The Reps were disappointed that the clarifications were set aside, but are hopeful they will return with that commission vote. "The complaints will be returned to pending status and considered by the Commission," said acting bureau chief Michelle Carey at the time. The legislators also pushed for the FCC to bring "true transparency" to political files by using its authority to require disclosure of specific donors, which is something not even Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler would do despite similar calls from some of the same legislators from his own party.

White House Chief Digital Officer Gerrit Lansing was among the six staffers who were dismissed from the White House recently after being unable to pass an FBI background check, apparently. The issue with the background check was over investments. Lansing previously led the digital department for the Republican National Committee.

The background check, security questionnaire SF86, must be completed by White House staffers for positions that cover national security. President Donald Trump's director of scheduling, Caroline Wiles, was also among the six staffers who did not pass the intensive FBI screening. She is the daughter of Susan Wiles, Trump’s Florida campaign director. Caroline Wiles resigned Feb 17 before the background check was completed.