Billy Tauzin (R-La.), incoming House telecommunications subcommittee chairman, left no uncertainty last week about his agenda for next year. Reed Hundt.
In doing so, Tauzin is following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Jack Fields (R-Texas). Well, not exactly. Fields was consumed with passing the 1996 telecom reform bill. But there were interludes at which time he challenged the contrary chairman on beepers for the homeless and other heady issues.
Tauzin doesn’t have to worry about writing landmark legislation-in fact, he wants to stay clear of reopening it. Instead, he apparently wants to make headlines early by going after Hundt and the agency’s implementation of the act. And he wants Hundt to deregulate himself out of a job.
John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman-to-be of the Senate Commerce Committee, is as feisty and pugilistic as they come. But you don’t hear him making the same threatening noises. He talks more of bipartisanship, working with colleagues like Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), and crafting bills President Clinton can sign. This comes from a man who voted against the telecom bill. He thinks the whole damn thing was a mistake, but unlike Tauzin doesn’t appear to be staking his reputation on taking down Hundt.
No doubt he’ll be just as tough on Hundt, especially with FCC ex patriot Pete Belvin becoming chief communications counsel of his panel.
Hundt bashing, it seems, has become quite popular. He is, of course, the FCC chairman everyone loves to hate. The infighting at the Hundt commission is legend, yet for someone who seems to have an aversion to consensus building, he continues to get the job done on ground-breaking issues that are more complicated and require more work than at any time in history.
Still, he is universally disliked and respected less despite accomplishing more (policy and monetary wise) in less time than any other FCC chairman before him. Hundt has put together a brain trust equal to none and modernized the FCC more in just three years beyond anything in the past.
For sure, Hundt invites a lot of animosity by, well, sucking up to the president instead of the industry. As a citizen, you can’t say encouraging wireless competition or cleaning up TV’s vast wasteland are the worst things a federal regulator could do.
Hundt stubbornly defies his foes, provoking them to hate him all the more.
Would it be politically incorrect to suggest this man deserves some credit?
