Connolly, Layton May Top Trump’s FCC Short List

Telecommunication industry insiders waiting for President Donald Trump to name a third GOP member of the Federal Communications Commission are focused on two possible contenders. Industry officials and telecom attorneys are pointing to Duke University economics professor Michelle Connolly and American Enterprise Institute scholar Roslyn Layton as likely candidates for the post.

The pair may have an edge over other possible picks because conservatives are interested in candidates with a strong grounding in economics. The Obama Administration’s FCC endured GOP criticism for allegedly not folding sufficient economic analysis into new rules and regulations. Sitting GOP Commissioner Michael O’Rielly called for the creation of an all-new FCC economics bureau in March 8 testimony for a Senate oversight hearing. Connolly, the FCC’s chief economist under former Republican Chairman Kevin Martin, holds a raft of Yale University economics degrees. Layton’s work with AEI and as a fellow in the Center for Communication, Media and Information Technologies at Denmark’s Aalborg University has touched frequently on the economics of technology and the internet. She advised the Trump team on the FCC during the transition.