Martin Misses an Opportunity

[Commentary] If you're going to shake up the FCC's open meeting by focusing on Katrina and moving to Bell South's emergency HQ, why couldn't Martin have focused a little bit on the future? Rather than looking at the way in which technology changed relief, Martin summoned the usual industry suspects who, unsurprisingly, explained to the FCC why they need regulatory goodies to better serve the public. Perhaps the Chairman can be persuaded to hold another meeting or forum a month or two down the road to look at where we should go, not where we've been. On the whole, I have high praise for the FCC and its response to Katrina. The agency mobilized quickly and worked through weekends to provide necessary regulatory permission and regulatory waivers. The FCC also did its best to help facilitate deployment of services with FEMA and Red Cross. Ken Moran, Kenneth Carter, and FCC Chief of Staff Dan Gonzales deserve high marks for their efforts, as do Peter Doyle and the folks in the Audio Division of the Media Bureau, and Catherine Bohigian in the Chairman's office. But last week's FCC open meeting was something of a disappointment. This is the second time Martin has converted the usually staid ritual of an open Commission meeting, where everything is decided in advance and the dance plays out in the FCC's hearing room, into something else. Several months ago, he broke precedent by inviting witnesses to testify on whether to require voice over IP services to provide 911 service and then calling an immediate vote on the item. This time, he moved the FCC down to Bell South's Emergency Control Center in Atlanta. While done “for the convenience of those testifying,” it also makes quite effective political theater. Martin is no slouch when it comes to moving his goals forward.
[SOURCE: Tales from the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Fel]