Take Me Out To the Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking

I was told by more than one person that this next item was pretty "inside baseball." But since I am currently on steriods for a bum leg, it seemed appropriate. Plus, I have decided that a blog is a perfect place for this.

When the FCC released its order putting out the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council’s diversity ownership issues for comment, it also released a little anger from the Democratic commissioners.

In a joint statement, Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-275689A1.doc), the pair said the notice came "after months of inaction."

A spokeswoman for the commission ( I would say her name was "Diamond "to extent the baseball metaphor, but you wouldn’t believe me) then followed with this statement: “While some are complaining about inaction on this item, it is worth noting that it has been before the Commissioners and awaiting their vote since October of last year.”  October, hmmm. Any baseball played in that month?

Foul! cried a staffer on the Democratic side of the building, metaphorically kicking dirt in the ump’s face. It seems the notice raising the diversity issues had been tied to one seeking comment on the chairman’s cable ownership cap proposal–to set the cap at 30%, I believe–a proposal the chairman did not have three votes on. So, action on the conjoined issues was unlikely while it was still a double play, so to speak, and the Dems weren’t going to link the two issues.

Calling time, a player on the other side points out that any commissioner at any time could have asked for the two to be separated out, but that nobody did until a week or so.

Time!