GAO Finds that Some FCC Lobbyists Get Inside Info
House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee Chairman Markey Requested Report
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/3/2007 6:22:00 AM EDT
The Government Accounting Office said Federal Communications Commission staffers have been tipping off some lobbyists as to when items are coming up for vote, in violation of commission rules.
That information could be a big advantage since lobbying is banned once the FCC publishes its agenda, usually one week prior to those votes. The study found that the FCC had not violated the prohibition on outside contact with lobbyists in that period, but that according to "nine of 12" stakeholders who "regularly participated in FCC rulemakings,” they knew when proposed rules were scheduled for an upcoming vote "well before the agenda was released."
According to House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who requested the report, it concludes that "information about Federal Communications Commission regulatory decisions is often leaked to corporate insiders long before it becomes public" because they heard it from bureau or commission staffers.
"As a result," the GAO concluded, "stakeholders with advance information about which rules are scheduled for a vote would know when it is most effective to lobby the FCC, while stakeholders without this information would not.”
The report was based on reviews of recent rulings, interviews with FCC officials and case studies of FCC orders from 2002-06.
The report recommended that the FCC "take steps to ensure equal access to information by making sure that nonpublic information is safeguarded from disclosure … so that all stakeholders have the same information," a recommendation seconded by Markey.
“The FCC has a duty to be above-board in developing and implementing its rules," Markey said. "When the ‘corporate insiders’ and ‘K-Street’ crowd have the inside track on decisions critical to telecommunications, media, broadband or wireless policy, then the public and consumers are at an inherent disadvantage. Both the law and the public interest, require that rulemaking decisions adhere to principles of openness and objectivity.”
The FCC took no official position on the report, according to the GAO, but FCC spokesman David Fiske said the commission "actively reaches out and works with consumers and public-interest groups, not only industry. We have always been very open and transparent about what is on circulation and we are exploring ways in which we can make our processes even more open and transparent."
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