One interesting thing about a change of power in Congress is that it tends to wake up what we all the Regulatorium.
Usually regulators tend to delay on making change happen. Inertia is a powerful thing.
But with the rise of the Democratic party in Congress, Democratic regulators suddenly realize they are going to get a real hearing and start kicking up their heels. Change leads to change.
It has already begun, with Democratic FCC Commissioner Michael Copps (a truly handsome man with a hairline I’m familiar with) issuing a call to arms on Internet broadband.
There is nothing here for me to disagree with. Our definition of broadband is too limited. We need more competition. We need more unlicensed spectrum.
And it’s not just talk, because Copps and colleague Jonathan Adelstein are holding up the AT&T-BellSouth merger. They got this power because Robert McDowell, the third Republican on the panel, has had to recuse himself.
The Copps talk, then, can be seen as a roadmap for demands he and
Adelstein are making as the price for approving the merger, as merger
approval conditions, if you will. They won’t get everything they seek,
but they will get some. Perhaps as early as next week, if AT&T gets
serious in negotiating with them.
And in that way, elections can change policy very quickly indeed.
