Adelstein Officially Nominated To Head RUS
White House has sent nomination to Senate
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/21/2009 4:12:54 PM
The White House has officially sent the nomination of Jonathan Adelstein as administrator of the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to the Senate.
The RUS is the USDA program that received $2.5 million in broadband economic stimulus funding to hand out in the form of grants and loans.
The RUS and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration have collected public comment on how to administer the grants, and are expected to start accepting bids by early summer.
A source close to Adelstein had told B&C he was interested in the job and excited by the prospect of appointment.
Adelstein's likely successor to that Democratic seat is Mignon Clyburn. Clyburn is a South Carolina public service commissioner and daughter of House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who sources say has already been vetted for the post by the administration.
Last month, when the president signaled his intention to nominate Adelstein, the White House gave him props for "efforts to improve rural telecommunications and broadband" while at the commission.
Adelstein had been on the commission for six years, and rather than stick around in a similar capacity-which likely was not an option anyway-he was said to be looking forward to the challenge of managing several hundred people in a program furthering a key Obama administration goal.
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