Martin: Genachowski To Do 'Fantastic Job'
Current FCC Chairman Gives Thumbs Up To Possible Successor On C-SPAN Taping
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 1/13/2009 11:15:00 AM
Washington -- If Julius Genachowski is the next Federal Communications Commission chairman, he'll do a "fantastic job," current Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin said Tuesday.
Martin, in a taped appearance on C-SPAN, was asked about reports that President-elect Barack Obama was planning to give the top FCC job to Genachowski, his friend since college and current technology adviser.
"If that's who it is -- it's just been reported; it hasn't been announced -- I'm sure he'll do a fantastic job," Martin said.
Martin taped a half-hour segment for C-SPAN's The Communicators Series, which airs Jan. 17 on C-SPAN at 6:30 p.m. (ET), and again Jan. 19 on C-SPAN 2 at 8 a.m.and 8 p.m.
Martin said he expects Obama to name one of the two FCC Democratic members, Michael Copps or Jonathan Adelstein, as interim chairman. Martin can stay at the FCC until at least 2010 as a regular commissioner. Martin did not rule out staying on after losing the chairmanship.
Martin said he had met Genachowski a few times.
"Julius Genachowski, I think is a very talented person," Martin said. "He obviously was at the commission before as a staffer, so he has some institutional knowledge."
Genachowski, a former clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter, was a top lawyer in the office of FCC chairman Reed Hundt during the first term of the Clinton administration.
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