Thursday November 10, 2005

Martin in the Middle

The Bush administration finally got around to nominating some FCC commissioners yesterday. The White House proposed extending the tenure of Democrat Michael Copps and appointing Deborah Taylor Tate to the vacant Republican seat. Tate, from the looks of it, is a regulatory wonk whose major statements about communications policy have been about VoIP. But even if she were confirmed today, the commission would still be deadlocked, 2 to 2, since Republican Kathleen Abernathy’s tenure has expired and she will leave the agency when Congress adjourns. And if Tate is not confirmed during this session, chairman Kevin Martin—who has been outspoken about his anti-indecency agenda—may find himself in an unusual situation. As TV Week (reg. required) reports:

That could leave Mr. Martin with a 1-2 agency—one Republican against two Democrats—giving the Democrats effective control. Without any vote to count on but his own, Mr. Martin won’t be able to move significant FCC initiatives that the agency’s two Democrats—FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein—don’t support.

Whoops. And that means Martin, who hasn’t levied a single fine since becoming chairman, won’t be able to start anytime soon. One other note: Observers had expected yesterday’s announcement to include a nomination for Richard Russell, associate director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. Since that didn’t come through, we’ll have to see what the White House has in mind. While chatter suggests the nomination might go to an aide for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Lisa Sutherland, perhaps Bush has a surprise appointment in mind. Harriet Miers maybe?