Robert Frieden

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai exudes charm even as he operates an aggressive deregulatory weed wacker that favors arcane administrative safeguards for phone companies over other matters, such as the long past due reduction in extortionate calling rates paid by prison inmates. Paradoxically, the chairman has more compassion for procedural due process rights of telephone companies than for families seeking a fair price for telephone calls priced in an unquestionably noncompetitive marketplace. The chairman instructed his legal staff not to show up at a court hearing on the matter and has announced no plans for finding ways to solve the rip-off in a legally proper manner.

Chairman Pai has undertaken an effective charm offensive promising greater transparency, reliance on facts and application of sound economic principles. Who could quibble with that? But anyone looking at the output of the Pai offensive can see a remarkable paradox. The chairman has clear deregulatory goals and will shape the evidence, statistics and economics to achieve the desired result.

[Rob Frieden holds the Pioneers Chair in Telecommunications and Law at Penn State University.]