[GreenKeys] Congressional Report Blasts the FCC Chair...

[Don Robert House]

Hi Ed,

I should have cut the message down.  My XYL had other plans for me  
tonight.

Basically the Management at the FCC under the last two chairmen caused  
the agency to become a political agency instead of a technical agency.
The committee is made up of more than just Rep. Dingell.  The entire  
oversight committee agrees that the FCC picked the reports that
would suit the chairman's political agenda and buried any reports that  
were in conflict.

One example was the BPL Broadband over Power Line which the ARRL had  
to sue the FCC to get attention to the bungling
and mismanagement at the FCC.

There are high hopes that after this investigation which brings to  
light the FCCs failures and mismanagement, that a good
technically knowledgeable person will be appointed to the chairmanship  
of the FCC and the agency can get back to it's chartered duties in
a professional publicly transparent manner as was intended.

Once we find out who the candidate are for the position we can write  
supporting who we think is best suited to do the best
job managing the FCC.

I think this report is good news as it brings to light more government  
fraud and inaction or incorrect action.

Sorry to clutter up your monitor.  Below is an edited version.

Don
K9TTY

THE ARRL WROTE:

> ==> CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS RELEASE REPORT
> LAMBASTING FCC CHAIRMAN KEVIN MARTIN

> On Tuesday, December 9, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce --
> the congressional committee that oversees the Federal Communications
> Commission -- released its majority staff report "on the bipartisan
> investigation of the FCC's regulatory processes and management
> practices."

> The report -- "Deception and Distrust: The Federal
> Communications Commission under Chairman Kevin J. Martin" -- stated  
> that
> the investigation was prompted "by allegations to the effect that  
> [FCC]
> Chairman Kevin J. Martin has abused FCC procedures by manipulating or
> suppressing reports, data and information"

> <http://www.arrl.org/news/files/FCC_Report120908.pdf>.

> "Our investigation confirmed a number of troubling allegations  
> raised by
> individuals in and outside the FCC," said Representative Bart Stupak
> (D-MI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
> "The Committee staff report details some of the most egregious  
> abuses of
> power, suppression of information and manipulation of data under
> Chairman Martin's leadership. It is my hope that this report will  
> serve
> as a roadmap for a fair, open and efficient FCC under new leadership  
> in
> the next administration."

> Representative John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on
> Energy and Commerce echoed Stupak's concerns: "Any of these findings,
> individually, are cause for concern. Together, the findings suggest
> that, in recent years, the FCC has operated in a dysfunctional manner
> and Commission business has suffered as a result. It is my hope that  
> the
> new FCC Chairman will find this report instructive and that it will
> prove useful in helping the Commission avoid making the same  
> mistakes."
>
> In its 110-page report, the Committee described 12 allegations,  
> ranging
> from retaliation against FCC employees who differed with the  
> Chairman's
> policies to enhanced 911 wireless services to broadband over power  
> lines
> (BPL). To go along with the 12 allegations, 22 exhibits were  
> attached to
> the report, such as internal e-mails, e-mails from FCC commissioners  
> to
> their staff, statements made by FCC commissioners and letters to and
> from commissioners (including Chairman Martin). Not all 12 allegations
> were substantiated by the Committee.

> * Broadband over Power Lines
> Concerning BPL, the report alleges that FCC officials "ignored
> complaints of radio frequency interference caused by BPL high-speed
> Internet technology, delayed an enforcement investigation for two  
> years
> and improperly withheld engineering data regarding BPL from the  
> public."
> The report found that in October 2004, as then-Chairman Michael Powell
> issued his final rule "defining BPL access and setting technical and
> administrative requirements to protect licensed radio operators from
> harmful interference," the FCC "withheld from the public certain
> engineering reports on which it relied in promulgating the rule" from
> the final rule and order.

> Even though the BPL rules were adopted during Powell's tenure, the
> report found that "it was under Chairman Martin that the Enforcement
> Bureau and the General Counsel continued to withhold the redacted
> engineering reports and insisted on doing so in the course of the
> ensuing litigation [with the ARRL]"
> <http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/04/25/10064/>.
> The report goes on to say that on April 25, 2008, the US Court of
> Appeals for the DC Circuit found that the FCC, in the case filed by  
> the
> ARRL, "violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it played 'hide
> and seek' with engineering data used in its support of the order and
> 'cherry-picked' a study on which it had relied"

> <http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/common/opinions/200804/06-1343-1112979.pdf 
> >.

> "The fact that the FCC withheld the required engineering reports in  
> this
> matter," the report concluded, "indicates poor judgment and an attempt
> to hide critical weaknesses in its decision. Ironically, the FCC's
> attempts to hide this information only served to provoke suspicion and
> its handmaiden, litigation. This case [filed by the ARRL] illustrates
> the extent to which a culture of secrecy has developed at the FCC that
> is as counterproductive as it is unnecessary."
>
> Sumner continued: "More than seven months after the Court remand, the
> FCC has done nothing to correct its errors, nor has it complied with  
> the
> very specific instructions from the United States Court of Appeals.
> These instructions included the disclosure of the studies that it
> intentionally withheld from the public, but upon which it relied in
> adopting its rules. Indeed, the only step the Commission has taken  
> since
> the Court's remand order is to mount an unsuccessful effort to oppose
> our claim for reimbursement of the printing costs for the briefs in  
> the
> case -- a small fraction of the expenses incurred by the ARRL in our
> appeal -- expenses that would not have been necessary had the  
> Commission
> followed the law in the first place"

> <http://www.arrl.org/?artid=8338>.

> * Other Findings by the Committee
> The report also showed instances of where Chairman Martin  
> "manipulated,
> withheld or suppressed data, reports and information," and said  
> Martin's
> "manipulation [of another report] may have damaged the credibility of
> the Commission, and certainly undermined the integrity of the staff.
> Moreover, it was done with the purpose of affecting the congressional
> decision-making, in that it was issued as a report to Congress."
> Saying that FCC matters have not been handled in an "open or  
> transparent
> manner," the report said the FCC "rais[ed] suspicions both inside and
> outside the Commission that some parties and issues are not being
> treated fairly." The report stated that the Committee's impressions  
> were
> "confirmed" when it discovered that Chairman Martin made a "preemptory
> reversal" of [a report's] conclusions and that Martin did not seek
> "further public comment or conduct further studies" thus giving the
> impression "that the issue was not handled fairly or openly."
> The report also found that Chairman Martin's "heavy-handed, opaque and
> non-collegial management style has created distrust, suspicion and
> turmoil among the five current Commissioners."

> * Committee Methodology
> Over the course of its investigation, the Committee staff reviewed
> "several hundred thousand documents, including 95 boxes of paper
> documents; conducted 73 interviews of current and former FCC employees
> and individuals associated with the telecommunications industry;
> solicited and received e-mails from FCC employees and contractors at a
> secure e-mail address established for this purpose, and reviewed  
> dozens
> of allegations." The report pointed out that since the investigation,
> Chairman Martin has taken "some small steps" to address some of the
> problems outlined in the report.

> The Committee also emphasized that not everything they found is  
> included
> in its report: "A few allegations were received so recently that they
> have not been investigated and are not included [in the report]. We  
> have
> also excluded matters that seemed trivial per se. Still, other
> allegations have not been adequately investigated because the FCC has
> not yet produced all of the records requested by the Committee.
> _______________________________________________