FCC Commissioner who voted to approve Comcast-NBC merger leaves....to join Comcast/NBC

[marmar]

via truthdig:




This Is Why People Hate Washington
Posted on May 11, 2011


Meredith Attwell Baker, one of two Republican FCC commissioners, voted in late January to approve the merger of Comcast and NBC. Less than four months later, she announced that she is leaving the FCC to become a lobbyist for the merged company.

It may be that Ms. Baker would have approved the merger irrespective of her career ambitions, but her disregard for the minimum ethical standard is shocking even by Washington standards.

In case it needs spelling out: Government officials should not be able to profit from the corporations they regulate.

It is to the great discredit of the other four FCC commissioners, three of whom also approved the merger, that none had anything but well wishes to offer Ms. Baker.

Craig Aaron of Free Press, quoted by The New York Times, put it well:

“No wonder the public is so nauseated by business as usual in Washington, where the complete capture of government by industry barely raises any eyebrows,” Mr. Aaron said. “The continuously revolving door at the F.C.C. continues to erode any prospects for good public policy.”

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/this_is_why_people_hate_washington_20110511/?ln

[PA Democrat]

1. Well, now we know what her price is for selling out on ethics.

[stlsaxman]

2. This is important. Thanks for posting.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. There ought to be a 10-year window in which

anyone sitting on a regulatory agency committee like the FCC is barred from working in the industry being regulated in any capacity, either directly or indirectly (such as lobbying.) Violation should be a felony.

[vi5]

4. Ugh. Who appointed this woman?

What a travesty.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. President Obama, in 2009.

Who KNEW that
Baker is "a reliable pro-business voice who frequently expressed concern that the agency was imposing unnecessary and onerous regulations on phone and cable companies."
She opposed network neutrality a position shared by the cable and telephone industry.
In March 2011, she stated that the review of the Comcast NBC merger "took too long."

according to Wiki.

[vi5]

11. You don't say....

Well clearly this must have been the fault of the Senate of the Blue Dogs or something. Otherwise why would President Obama do such a thing? I mean that just does not sound like him at all.

:sarcasm:

[snot]

5. [self-delete]

[Marblehead]

6. it's all pretty much

out in the open now and no one will stop it.

[spanone]

7. that's politics in america...crooked as it gets

[Armstead]

8. I wrote a thread on this too -- I wonder if its possible to invalidate her vote?

I may be wrong, but it seems to me this is soooooooo convenient for her and for Comcast that there would be grounds for a legal or at least ethical challenge to the approval vote.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1086425&mesg_id=1086425

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Guess who her father in law is???

She is married to the son of James Baker, who served as the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's first administration and in the final year of the administration of President George H. W. Bush.

So says Wiki.

[malaise]

12. Duh!!!

Calling Eric Holder!!

[progressoid]

13. That's what happens when you appoint Republicans

[Angry Dragon]

14. Whore