Posted on 07/09/2002 5:39:37 AM PDT by Elkiejg
Specifically, in what should have been a routine proceeding, subsea cable builder Global Crossing Ltd. asked the Federal Communications Commission to “defer” consideration of the JUS petition in order to consider whether undersea cable consortia still served the “public interest” in a post-WTO world....
Rather than set forth anything substantive, however, Global Crossing hired a bevy of high-priced lobbyists - including Anne Bingaman, the former Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, Peter Cowhey, the former Chief of the FCC’s International Bureau, and Greg Simon, former domestic policy adviser to Vice President Gore - to argue that the U.S. government should just nakedly divide up the market (that is, assign customers to specific competitors) for trans-Pacific communications, and abrogate both private contracts and ignore international agreements - including the WTO and a subsequent bilateral agreement reached between Japan and the U.S. Trade Representative.
As if this was not bad enough, Global Crossing also argued that the FCC should ignore its residual unilateral “regulatory safeguards” (such as benchmarks, for example) - unilateral safeguards that were promulgated under the watch of the very high-powered Washington DC lobbyists that Global Crossing hired to argue hypocritically the exact opposite view.
She was also a Director at McLeod USA (along with Erskine Bowles, of Clinton fame). Got the info from this link. Then did a search and found they declared bankruptcy in Jan '02, 2 days after Global Crossing filed.
Are we seeing a pattern here? I think so....
Also mentioned at that link is one of her current positions at BIA Digital Partners, a communications investment firm funded by the BIA Financial Network. Her bio is listed under Industry Advisors
BIA Digital Partners, a venture capital fund affilated with Chantilly-based BIA Financial Network, received a license from the U.S. Small Business Administration to operate as a small business investment company. BIA Digital Partners will receive a 2-to-1 match from the SBA on the capital it raises. (Potomac Tech Journal)
So now they are getting Govt. funding from the SBA? Geez...what a tangled web we weave...
LCI International Telecom Corp. d/b/a Qwest Comm.
Qwest has also filed for bankruptcy and is currently being investigated by the DOJ and the SEC and guess who used to be their auditor...you got it...none other than Arthur Anderson. Details can be found at this link
Think it is time to contact the RNC with this info...my gosh...the woman is poison to any company she is affiliated with!
Bingaman told the Senate Subcommittee that "Our concern is that Justice may be stepping outside the quasi-judicial role assigned by Congress - for which Congress gave Justice's views 'substantial weight' - into the role of an active participant negotiating an outcome before the fact. Any behind the scenes role influencing a state body that has not yet made a public decision is not, I believe, what Congress believed Justice's role would be when it enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996."
Her full testimony can be found here.
And more fodder for the fire:
Valor was formed in September 1999 and at the time of the sale, was only known as dba communications.
"Our company was formed so they could bid on the GTE properties," Cruz said.
Based in Irving, Valor's major investors include: Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, Vestar Capital, Citicorp Venture Capital and a group of 12 prominent Hispanic investors with longstanding ties to the Southwest.
The passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 helped make it possible for Valor to be formed. Telecommunications industry veterans Anne Bingaman and Kenneth Cole lead the company.
Bingaman is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who has recently served as President of the Local Services Division of LCI International, Inc. She has also served at Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division at the United States Department of Justice from June 1993 to October 1996. Bingaman played a key role in the development of the Administration's telecommunications policy, including the landmark 1996 Telecommunications Act.
And another connection on her hubby and Qwest:
President of the Navajo Nation Kelsey A. Begaye expresses his gratitude for United States Senator Jeff Bingaman's (New Mexico) initiative and work on the Navajo Electrification Project, a five-year, $75 million funding proposal passed last November by the U.S. Congress. The proposal, sponsored by Senator Bingaman and co-sponsored by Senator Pete V. Domenici (New Mexico), would utilize innovative technology to electrify rural homes on the Navajo Reservation.
On Thursday, December 27, 2001, the President of the Navajo Nation Kelsey A. Begaye will join representatives from Qwest Communications in signing a Master Access and Telephone Service Agreement.
Both of these stories can be found at:
Did Sen. Bingaman or his wife have anything to do with the agreement from Qwest for the Navajoes? Hmmmmm....
Sen. Bingaman was also on the Senate Year 2000 Committee which in 1998 assessed the Y2K status of the telecommunications industry.
And does anyone think it is funny that Global Crossing almost won the award (it got yanked...see the link) for the Defense Information Systems Agency while Sen Bingham sits on the Armed Services Committee?
Their paths just keep on crossing over and over again...
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