Martin Disrupts Tate-Adelstein Deal: Sources
FCC Chairman Scuttled Pact Over Putting His Resignation In Writing
Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 3/5/2008 12:05:00 PM
WASHINGTON -- Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin scuttled a deal between the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) designed to award new terms to incumbent FCC commissioners, Republican Deborah Taylor Tate and Democrat Jonathan Adelstein, according to individuals familiar with the details.
Martin rejected the deal because it required him to pledge to Reid in writing that he would resign his FCC commission in January 2009 if a Democrat were elected president in November, sources close to the deal said.
"The chairman is not prepared to step down on a certain date. He is not willing to say that he will automatically resign at a certain time. He is not willing to say he will do it," an FCC source said Wednesday night.
The precedent for such a commitment, according to two parties with knowledge of the attempted deal, was set late last fall when Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Joseph Kelliher quietly promised Reid to quit under the same terms Reid sought from Martin.
Kelliher was sworn in for second term less than three months ago, but one party said Kelliher's conditional letter of resignation to Reid got him into hot water with the White House personnel office. A FERC spokeswoman Wednesday referred a reporter's call to the White House.
Martin, these individuals said, declined to accept Reid's terms because he is considering remaining at the FCC for an unspecified period of time next year, even if he is no longer chairman. An FCC source suggested that it would have been imprudent for Martin to pick a resignation date because it could have diminished the agency's ability to cope with some pressing matter, such as the digital television transition.
Reid spokesman Jim Manley declined to comment on the matter.
A senior administration official, who declined to be named, said it "was highly unusual" that a Senate leader would even attempt to obtain Martin's conditional resignation in an effort to ease Senate confirmation for two nominees.
Tate's FCC term expired last June 30. Under law, she may remain in office until Congress adjourns later this year if a replacement has not been confirmed.
Adelstein's term expires in June. Bush renominated Tate last June and Adelstein last November.
Reid sought Martin's commitment to resign to ensure that a newly elected Democratic president could quickly install a Democrat as FCC chairman and to guarantee that Democrats could take control of the agency without much delay.
Here's the scenario Reid wanted to avoid: If Tate and Adelstein were confirmed this year and Martin remained at the FCC well into 2009, a new Democratic president could designate Adelstein or FCC Democrat Michael Copps to be chairman of the five-member agency but Republicans would still have a one-vote advantage: Martin, Tate, and Robert McDowell.
In that case, the new Democratic president would not have an opportunity to confirm a Democrat at the FCC - and secure an FCC majority for Democrats -- until McDowell's term expired in June 2009.
According to one party, Tate wanted Martin to sign the letter but she declined to speak to him directly. Tate, this individual said, feared that Martin would demand her support for policies she otherwise would not embrace.
Adelstein ended up asking Martin if he intended to sign the letter to Reid.
Martin, one knowledgeable party said, told Aldestein he wouldn't because he might want to remain at the FCC for a few months into 2009. Martin's commission does not expire until 2011.
|"[Martin] is not trying to cause problems. He is not trying to be defiant. This is just a commitment that he did not want to make," an FCC insider said.
If Tate is forced to leave at the end of the year and Martin leaves a few weeks later, Copps, Adelstein and McDowell would remain, giving Democrats a one-vote edge.
That scenario has media and telecommunications lobbyists concerned because Copps and Adelstein have routinely supported close regulation of their industries.
