WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard’s decision to neither shut down nor fine an unlicensed Texas broadcaster in April-following a friendly phone call from Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas)-contrasts sharply with his tough-talking rhetoric about the agency’s no-nonsense enforcement policy.
After a California federal judge in June ordered Stephen Dunifer to stop broadcasting without a license, Kennard boasted, “This decisive court action puts to rest any doubts about the FCC’s authority to manage the public airwaves to prevent interference and protect the public’s safety.”
Kennard said the court’s action “should send a message to all pirate broadcasters: Obey the law-and join the FCC in our efforts to expand the legal uses of the public airwaves.”
In seeking an FCC budget increase from House and Senate appropriators earlier this year, Kennard testified that as chairman he had “emphasized the importance of strengthening agency enforcement as essential to protect consumers and enhance competition.” Kennard told lawmakers at that time the FCC had shut down 261 unlicensed pirate radio operations under his leadership.
Five of the enforcement actions, noted Kennard in congressional testimony, involved illegal radio communications that interfered with air traffic control or were otherwise endangering human life.
In some cases, the FCC and the Department of Justice have issued joint statements on crackdowns against pirate broadcasters that outline plans for prosecution.
Unlicensed radio communications is serious business. It’s not unusual for U.S. marshals to storm a suspect’s home and haul him or her off in handcuffs. Violators face fines up to $100,000 and can be jailed.
Some observers with first-hand knowledge of FCC enforcement have suggested the government’s behavior is too heavy handed in some circumstances-including those involving young hobbyists.
Given this backdrop, Kennard’s actions in the Texas unlicensed broadcast case and his treatment of Richard Lee-the man who oversaw the FCC’s impressive enforcement team before being relieved of his duties and reassigned to the agency’s policy shop-raises questions.
Just why did Kennard go easy on Billy Meyer, a Waco, Texas, businessman eager to build a new, $65 million auto drag strip in Barton’s district, and give the boot to Lee, whose Dallas field office shut Meyer down before Barton and Kennard intervened to put Meyer back on the air in April?
Kennard downplays the entire matter. “We made a pragmatic, common sense decision not to disrupt an ongoing 3-to-4 day racing event involving a low-power television broadcast from a stadium into its parking lot,” he stated earlier this month after Lee went public with allegations of illegal misconduct against the chairman and other high-ranking FCC officials.
Barton, for his part, has explained away the controversy in the much the same manner.
Kennard, when pressed for answers by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), called for the FCC’s inspector general to investigate the matter.
McCain’s counterparts in the House-lawmakers who have been sharply critical of Kennard and who share membership with Barton on the Commerce Committee, have been strangely silent about the Kennard-Meyer scandal.
House telecom subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) was given the same allegations Lee filed with government officials and others, but-unlike McCain-had a muted reaction.
Ken Johnson, Tauzin’s press aide, said Tauzin spoke to Barton and that the Louisiana lawmaker was satisfied with Barton’s explanation. However, Johnson said Tauzin was monitoring the situation.
Lee, who pushed to shut down the operation, claims Kennard ordered him to pursue a license for Meyer. Meyer subsequently was awarded an FCC license this September. Sources, including one former FCC official, told RCR Meyer received his license much sooner than usual.
Kennard allies at the FCC say the chairman had ample precedent to do what he did. One FCC official, who requested anonymity, said Lee’s transfer to the Office of Plans and Policy (where he oversees licensing analysis) is not punishment for his allegations against Kennard and others. Rather, suggested the FCC official, Lee was reassigned because of an unrelated personal incident.
The FCC official said it is Lee, not Kennard, who is seeking retribution.
“Are we doing anything to put down Rich Lee? Absolutely not,” said David Fiske, an FCC spokesman, when asked whether there is a whisper campaign to discredit Lee.
Lee, when reached, said, “I have no comment.”
FCC Dallas field office Chief Jim Wells also declined to comment. Lee, in his official compliant, said Wells sided with him in refusing to solicit a license from Meyer, whom they believed violated FCC rules.
Lee charged that Roy Stewart, chief of the FCC’s Mass Media Bureau, was content to follow Kennard’s order to get Meyer a license in order to spare the chairman further trouble. Stewart was not available for comment.
Earlier this year, when he first announced the FCC reorganization, Kennard tasked FCC lawyer David Solomon with setting up the new Enforcement Bureau. Lee was directed to put together the new Consumer Information Bureau.
Fiske said it was understood early on that Solomon, highly respected by many, would head the Enforcement Bureau. Fiske could not explain why Lee then was not chosen to head the Consumer Information Bureau.
Instead, Lorraine Miller, a former Federal Trade Commission official, was tapped to head the Consumer Information Bureau. Solomon did not return calls for comment.
Fiske also said Lee, to date, had not made good on his threat to file an equal employment opportunity complaint against the FCC.
Jack Gravely, director of the FCC’s Office of Workplace Diversity, did not return calls for comment.
