From conflicts of interest to corporate lobbying, decades of bipartisan betrayal at the FCC have undermined the public trust and favored Telecom titans.
House Democrats recently called for an investigation into Brendan Carr, a current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) member who was first appointed by former President Trump in 2017. Carr drew Democrats’ scrutiny after he authored a section in Project 2025 on the FCC which advocates for repealing Section 230, among other policies. Carr’s ideas for telecommunications regulation appear to be in line with Trump and his conservative allies’ (as well as the telecom industry) longtime goals.
While House Democrats were rightly outraged, Carr’s background reveals his pro-industry alignment is hardly surprising. Before joining the FCC, Carr worked for Wiley Rein, a BigLaw firm whose telecoms clients include Viacom, AOL Time Warner, and all four of the regional Bell telephone companies. Founded by former FCC chairman Richard E. Wiley, the law firm specializes in hiring former and future FCC commissioners to defend telecom companies in regulatory lawsuits. Recently, Wiley helped their client Nexstar Broadcasting “persuade” the Supreme Court to affirm a previous FCC decision to repeal the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule and the radio/television cross-ownership rule.
The revolver problem in the FCC, however, goes far beyond just Carr and Wiley Rein. Regulators from both sides of the aisle have gone on to betray the public interest by pursuing industry careers where they help massive communications companies dodge laws these former officials once enforced. In our analysis of the past seven commissioners who left the FCC (stretching back to the early 2000’s), the Revolving Door Project found these officials went on to take board seats and high-level corporate advising spots in the telecom industry. They have even outright lobbied for telecom industry associations or law firms which represent the industry.
Ajit Pai, FCC Commissioner from 2012 to 2016, Chairman from 2017 to 2021: With Ajit Pai at the helm of the agency, net neutrality was infamously repealed. Ajit Pai also approved the T-Mobile and Sprint Merger, as well as the Nexstar Media Group/Tribune Media merger.
- 2001 – 2003 Associate General Counsel, Verizon
- Pai drafted submitted comments to the FCC regarding proposed rulemaking and prepared testimony for congressional hearings. He also handled a variety of other litigation matters, such as submitting amicus briefs in cases related to Verizon’s interests and arguing dispositive motions.
- 2011 – 2012, Partner, Jenner & Block:
- At Jenner & Block, Ajit Pai represented Securus, a prison phone company. When working for the FCC, Pai had the agency drop rules which limited the intrastate phone rates charged to prisoners. This FCC decision helped Securus and other phone companies exploit prisoners by charging them exorbitant fees to talk to their families.
- 2021 – Present, Partner, Searchlight Capital Partners:
- Searchlight Capital Partners is an investment firm that specializes in investing in the telecom industry. The firm is invested in Univision, as well as Mitel, a telecom service provider. Pai has helped them invest in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors, being “…involved in sourcing and evaluating potential transactions; working with executives in portfolio companies…working with current and prospective limited partners regarding existing and future funds; and extending the firm’s reach through various public and private efforts.”
Tom Wheeler, FCC Chairman from 2013 to 2017: Wheeler approved Charter buying Time Warner Cable and Bright House Net and the AT&T-DirecTV merger. He was also part of the approval of Frontier acquiring many of Verizon’s local wireline, broadband and video operations in California, Florida and Texas.
- 2024 – Present, Board of Advisors, Truepic:
- 2017 – Present, CEO of The Shiloh Group LLC:
- This law firm is a “strategy and investment consulting firm”. It is specifically geared towards helping companies in the telecommunications sector.
- 1992 – 2004: President and CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA):
- The CTIA is the telecom industry’s main trade association, spending over $17 million annually in federal lobbying.,
- 1976 – 1984: National Cable Television Association (NCTA), President and CEO:
- Now known as the Internet & Television Association, the NCTA is a major trade group that represents companies like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, and gave congressional candidates more than $1.7 million in 2016.
Mignon Clyburn, FCC Commissioner from May 2013 to November 2013: The daughter of Democratic Congressman James Clyburn, Mignon Clyburn has a mixed record on telecom regulation. She supported several positive FCC decisions, such as net neutrality, supporting the lifeline program to make broadband access more affordable for lower income families, and capping the rates that inmates have when making phone calls to their families. However, she also approved of the NBCUniversal/Comcast merger, the AT&T/DirecTV merger, as well as the Charter acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Net. Clyburn also supported spectrum auctions, a system which distributes the right to spectrum use through auctioning it off to telecom companies. Spectrum auctions have been criticized as often becoming an industry-friendly method of distributing spectrum use because, without the proper safeguards, it has often become a way that large communication companies engage in price collusion.
- 2020 – Present: RingCentral Board of Directors:
- RingCentral is a provider of cloud-based communications. It is partnered and works with over 400,000 Telecom companies, counting AT&T, MGM, Spectrum, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Telus, and many more in its list of partners.
- 2019 – Present: Principal, MLC Strategies
- MLC Strategies is Clyburn’s eponymous consulting firm which provides “… strategic advice and critical solutions in the technology, media, telecommunications and investor owned utility industries.”
Robert M. McDowell, FCC Commissioner from 2006 to 2013: McDowell opposed net neutrality as a staunch opponent of the Open Internet Order. He approved of the NBCUniversal/Comcast merger, and also supported spectrum auctions.
- 2016 – Present: Partner, Cooley LLP:
- This law firm has been called the “Tech Firm of the Year” by Law360. Cooley focuses on representing wireless, broadband, and cloud communications companies in commercial transactions and other business dealings. They have represented the telecommunications industry in contesting various regulations, and pride themselves on “some of the first successful petitions to revoke rural exemptions from the competition requirements of the Telecommunications Act of 1996”. The firm also touts being “actively involved in all varieties of Federal Communications Commission rulemaking proceedings and other policy initiatives important to the sector.”
- 2014 – 2016: Partner at Wiley Rein LLP:
- Dubbed the “Telecom group of the year” by Law360. The law firm represented iHeartMedia Inc and won several regulatory approvals for them. Wiley Reid’s Telecom Team has won a number of pro-industry lawsuits, listing numerous acquisitions and acquiring FCC approval for hundreds of millions of dollars of acquisitions and sales. Several other FCC commissioners have revolved into this law firm, such as Brendan Carr.
- 2014 – 2016: Senior Advisor at Berenson and Company:
- Berenson and Company is an investment firm, which focuses on a”… comprehensive suite of mergers & acquisitions advisory services, public and private financings of debt and equity, and financial restructuring and recapitalizations.” Keith Cowan, a senior telecom industry executive who worked on the board of Sprint and Bellsouth corporation, was hired for the senior advisor role in 2013, before McDowell. In other words, McDowell closely rubbed shoulders with the very people he should have been scrutinizing.
Meredith Attwell Baker, FCC Commissioner from 2009 to 2011: Baker made a number of industry-friendly decisions as an FCC regulator. She supported spectrum auctions and opposed net neutrality. She was the deciding vote in approving the NBCUniversal and Comcast merger. She has denied that she was in contact with Comcast while deliberating on this case as part of the FCC, but she abruptly left her term as commissioner just after the merger was approved to become the senior vice president at the resulting behemoth of a corporate entity.
- 2014 – Present: President and CEO of CTIA – the Wireless Association:
- The CTIA is the telecom industry’s main trade association, spending over $17 million annually in federal lobbying. Baker helps them advocate for spectrum auctions, deregulation in regards to infrastructure deployment, as well as opposing net neutrality. Baker and the CTIA have been listed as some of the top lobbyists on the hill.
- 2011 – 2014 Senior VP Of NBCUniversal Media:
- After approving of the NBCUniversal/Comcast merger, Baker left her term as Commissioner of the FCC early to become Vice President of NBCUniversal Media. In this role, Baker lobbied on 21 bills on behalf of Comcast, just two years after leaving her post as a regulator.
Julius Genachowski, FCC Chairman from 2009 to 2013: While Genachowski supported some modest moves toward net neutrality as Chairman, he also approved the NBCUniversal/Comcast merger, a decision that makes sense given his board positions on some of the most prominent telecom companies after leaving the FCC.
- 2024 – Present Senior Advisor to the Carlyle Group
- 2014 – 2024: Managing Director & Partner
- The Carlyle Group is one of the biggest private equity firms, and is known for its deep associations with the federal government. Private equity firms increase the process of corporate concentration by helping large corporations make acquisitions, while gutting the companies that are bought, often undermining labor rights. Specifically appointed to the U.S Buyout team, Genachowski helps the investment firm invest in media and telecom, as well as other investments in global technology, internet, and mobile technologies.
- 2023 – Present: Chair of the Board of Directors, Sonos, Inc
- 2013 – Present: Member Board of Directors
- 2015 – 2020 Board of Directors, Sprint
- When Genachowski was chairman of the FCC, Sprint put out a statement thanking him for one of his decisions. Considering he would later join their board, this action highlights his pro-corporate positioning as a regulator.
- 2014 – Present: Board of Directors, Mastercard
Jonathan S. Adelstein, FCC commissioner from 2002 to 2009: Adelstein left the FCC to work for a number of telecommunications companies and lobbying associations.
- 2024 – Present: Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and External Affairs Office at TWN Communication
- For TWN, an internet service provider, Adelstein is in charge of raising capital and grants that the company is using to build new broadband networks in rural America. He has seemingly leveraged his experience and social capital from working as a regulator to help the company receive federal funding. TWN lists some of his key responsibilities as assisting “TWN to capitalize on its prime position to grow the company’s infrastructure under the $42 billion federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program.”
- 2022 – 2024: Managing Director and Head of Global Policy and Public Investment, DigitalBridge
- DigitalBridge is an investment firm that invests in “…data centers, cell towers, fiber networks, small cells, and edge infrastructure.”. The company manages more than $80 billion on behalf of telecoms partners such as Boingo, Extenet and many other data centers and telecommunications infrastructure companies. For the firm, Adelstein helps the company manage risks, evaluate investment opportunities, and represent its interest before policymakers.
- 2012 – 2022: President and CEO Of the Wireless Infrastructure Association
The WIA is a lobbying organization that counts AT&T, Bell, Dish, T-Mobile, Qualcomm, and many more telecom companies among its members. As the president and CEO of the company, Adelstein led the company in advocating for spectrum auctions. The WIA has also advocated for deregulation in regards to building more wireless towers.
Image Attribution: “Brendan Carr, Michael O’Rielly & Ajit Pai” by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ. CC BY-SA 2.0
