FCC’s Martin Fires Back at GAO Report

Federal Communications Commission Chairman: 97 Pages of Responses Not Included

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/11/2007 2:41:00 PM

The Federal Communications Commission released 97 pages’ worth of written response to the Government Accountability Office's DTV-transition-education report Tuesday outlining the various steps it has taken in what it said was essentially a 20-year run-up to the transition.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin also complained that the had not included those written comments in its report, also released Tuesday, that suggested that the DTV-education initiative lacked focus and coordinated direction.

Martin said in a letter to Mark Goldstein, director of physical-infrastructure issues for the GAO, which was included in the report, that he presented the FCC's written comments -- 97 pages’ worth, actually -- and that the GAO refused to include them unedited, as, he added, government auditing rules require.

"By failing to reproduce the commission's written comments in an appendix, the GAO's final report will be denying the commission an important avenue for expressing its view of the GAO's report,” Martin said. He also pointed out that the FCC had spent about $500,000 to respond to GAO request for info, including producing more than 13,000 documents.