Late last week it became clear just how far Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is willing to go to keep consumer protection guarantees to a minimum in the largest telecommunication merger in history.
Declaring negotiations on the proposed $82 billion merger of communication giants AT&T and Bellsouth at an “impasse,” Martin asked the agency’s general counsel to determine if Commissioner Robert McDowell – a former industry lobbyist who has thus far recused himself from the issue due to a conflict of interest – should be given special dispensation to vote on the deal.
McDowell’s recusal has left the FCC deadlocked on the deal. On one side is Martin and Commissioner Deborah Tate, both Republicans, who want the deal to move forward unconditionally. On the other side are the FCC’s two Democrats, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, who have refused to approve the merger without substantial consumer protection guarantees.
It is expected that McDowell, a Republican, would vote with Martin and Tate to approve the merger unconditionally, although he has not indicated publicly how he might go on the deal.
Late Friday afternoon, Martin sent a letter to congressional leaders informing them he had asked the FCC general counsel to consider "unrecusing" McDowell so he could review and vote on the AT&T/Bellsouth merger.
“Given the Commission’s inability to reach consensus on this matter, I have asked the General Counsel to consider whether the Government’s interest would be served by permitting Commissioner McDowell – who has not participated in this proceeding thus far – to participate,” wrote Martin.
We would ask Chairman Martin what, exactly, is the “Government’s interest” to be served by McDowell’s unrecusal in this matter?
Under the current circumstances, it appears the “Government’s interest” as defined by Martin is to allow the merger to move forward without any of the additional consumer protection conditions insisted upon by Copps and Adelstein.
It also appears the “Government interest” as defined by Martin is to rubber stamp the biggest telecommunications merger as presented by the two companies, no questions asked. That is exactly what the Justice Department did with its “review” of the deal earlier this year, which we blogged on a few weeks ago.
For our part, we think the “Government’s interest” in this deal should be making sure consumers are protected to the greatest extent possible. After all, the merger will create a new communications behemoth with vast resources and reach – an entity likely to affect the daily lives of millions of Americans for years to come in ways as yet unimaginable.
Martin is unquestionably smart and politically astute. He knows the Democrats set to take over the leadership of Congress next month will likely scrutinize the proposed merger and other telecom issues much differently than their Republican predecessors.
As chairman of the FCC, he has put the merger on the agenda for commission meetings three times in the last few weeks, only to remove it at the last minute when it became clear he did not have the votes for approval. It is anticipated he will put it on the agenda for the FCC’s next meeting on December 20, particularly if McDowell is cleared to vote on the deal.
We think it would be prudent and just plain good public service for Martin to take his foot off the gas on this one. We also think it would be good for Martin to stop worrying so much about AT&T and Bellsouth and worry more about the consumers who will be left at the mercy of the communication market monster created by their merger.
