Posted on 03/09/2012 2:48:00 AM PST by Libloather
FCC fires back at Sen. Grassley over LightSquared
By Brendan Sasso - 03/08/12 03:40 PM ET
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fired back at Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Thursday after the Republican lawmaker accused the agency of stonewalling his probe over wireless startup LightSquared.
On Wednesday, Grassley said the FCC was ignoring his repeated attempts to meet with senior staffers over the agency's decision to grant LightSquared a conditional waiver last year.
"Commission staff have attempted to address these issues through multiple conversations with the senator’s staff, including as recently as last week," FCC spokeswoman Tammy Sun said in a statement Thursday.
She added that the FCC is cooperating with the House Energy and Commerce Committee's probe of LightSquared.
"In the LightSquared matter, the commission is following longstanding practice, consistent with Congress’s own guidance with respect to requests from individual members. We have repeatedly made this clear," Sun said.
FCC officials have noted that agencies usually only respond to inquiries from lawmakers who serve on committees with jurisdiction over them. Grassley is the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, but does not serve on any panels that oversee the FCC.
Sun also dismissed Grassley's insinuation that Josh Gottheimer, senior counselor to the FCC chairman, was biased toward LightSquared.
In a memo to reporters on Wednesday, Grassley's office noted that Gottheimer previously worked for a public-relations firm that now works for LightSquared.
Grassley said the commission was ignoring his requests to question Gottheimer over his involvement with LightSquared.
Sun said Gottheimer joined the FCC in July 2010, months after the commission granted LightSquared its conditional waiver. She added that an ethics review concluded that he never worked for LightSquared when he was at the public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller.
LightSquared planned to launch a nationwide 4G wireless network, but tests showed its signals would interfere with GPS devices.
After a review concluded there was no feasible way to fix the interference problem, the FCC pulled the company's waiver and has now moved to block the launch of its network.
Grassley is questioning why the FCC allowed LightSquared to get as far as it did in the regulatory process.
He has pledged to block President Obama's two FCC nominees unless the agency releases internal documents related to its review of the company.
“Throughout my career, I’ve received documents from agencies across the federal government in response to my oversight inquiries," Grassley told The Hill in response to the FCC statement Thursday. "It’s rare to see an agency go to such extremes to avoid a response to a simple request unless the agency has something to hide. In October, the FCC chairman pledged to make staff members available to speak with me. I took him at his word – my mistake.”
Other Republicans, including Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), have accused the White House and the FCC of favoring LightSquared because of political connections, pointing to billionaire investor Phil Falcone.
Falcone, who has donated thousands of dollars to both Democrats and Republicans in recent years, says he is a registered Republican.
The White House and the FCC have denied showing LightSquared any inappropriate favoritism although expanding broadband Internet access is a top priority of both agencies.
The FCC is about to find out how difficult a single pissed-off Senator can make life for a government agency.
Complete and utter bovine excrement. Never before was a chunk of spectrum approved for reuse as quickly as in the LightSquared fiasco.
And if it weren't for the FAA and the Pentagon screaming bloody murder that such high powered operations right next to the GPS band would destroy GPS reception, they would have gotten away with it.
“Falcone, who has donated thousands of dollars to both Democrats and Republicans in recent years, says he is a registered Republican.”
This many thousands to Republicans as well?
FALCONE, PHILIP A
NEW YORK, NY 10065
HARBINGER CAPITAL PARTNERS/FINANC
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
06/27/2008 28500.00
09/30/2009 30400.00
He, not Harbinger(?), did get a partial refund (note the dates above and below):
FALCONE, PHILIP A
NEW YORK, NY 10065
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
09/03/2008 -20000.00
Don’t mess with my gps signal.
You mean like the Justice Department found out.
Obama’s agencies are running this country, not the Senate.
No, but I know from personal experience that certain agencies are terrified of individual senators, who can put holds on appointments and withhold appropriated funds by not consenting when the usual “unanimous consent” votes are held. Individual senators are actually quite powerful but usually exercise that power behind the scenes. Therefore, most agencies will bend over backwards to appease an angry senator just to protect themselves.
[FCC spokeswoman Tammy Sun] added that the FCC is cooperating with the House Energy and Commerce Committee's probe of LightSquared.Note well Sun said House and that Grassley is a Senator. So is she telling us that the FCC is stonewalling the Senior Chamber?
"In the LightSquared matter, the commission is following longstanding practice, consistent with Congress’s own guidance with respect to requests from individual members. We have repeatedly made this clear," Sun said.So it is Congress' fault! And guidance from which Congress? Also note the "individual member" statement coupled with that last statement. Is Obama's testiness becoming a model for his minions to follow?
FCC officials have noted that agencies usually only respond to inquiries from lawmakers who serve on committees with jurisdiction over them. Grassley is the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, but does not serve on any panels that oversee the FCC.The reporter draws the reader half-way to the conclusion with the above paragraph but fails to clear it up for the 99%: Grassley is a Senator, he has no jurisdiction over us committee wise, we ain't telling him squat. IOW, Grassley is most definitely being stone-walled. Let the games begin.
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