WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission’s inspector general last week cleared FCC Chairman William Kennard and his staff of any wrongdoing in connection with allegations by a high-ranking agency official last fall that Kennard bowed to political pressure so an unlicensed spectrum operator with business and political ties in Texas could resume transmissions.
“The OIG (Office of Inspector General) was unable to find any evidence of misconduct by the employees or that they had exceeded their authority in allowing broadcasting at the track,” the FCC’s IG stated in its semi-annual report.
Despite the high profile of the investigation, the IG’s accounting of the Kennard probe was short on details. FCC Inspector General H. Walker Feaster explained that, typically, summaries of investigations are provided to the public to protect the privacy of the parties.
“We were confident that we acted appropriately and we are pleased that the IG concluded there was no wrongdoing,” said an FCC spokeswoman.
It is not the first time Kennard has faced allegations of impropriety.
On several occasions, House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) publicly has accused the FCC of corruption. Tauzin said telecom lobbyists have complained to him privately of shakedowns during merger reviews.
Kennard also has been accused of improper lobbying on Capitol Hill for pet projects, like legislation to allow the FCC to reclaim wireless licenses from firms in bankruptcy. So far, the FCC has not succeeded on that front. Tauzin also said he believes the FCC improperly lobbied Congress to kill a bill that would repeal the commission’s low-power FM broadcast ruling.
To date, Kennard has not been found guilty of violating any law or acting improperly. At the same time, the Clinton-appointed Democrat remains a big target for Republicans who run Congress.
While exonerated in the Texas-unlicensed-operator probe, the case provides a revealing glimpse into how business is conducted behind the scenes by Washington’s power brokers.
The IG investigation was called for by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) last November after allegations against Kennard and his staff surfaced in a strongly worded complaint by then-FCC enforcement chief Richard Lee.
McCain could not be reached for comment.
Lee, for his part, is now senior director of licensing analysis in the FCC’s Office of Plans and Policy.
While some initially speculated that Lee might have been transferred because he was acting as a whistle blower, the FCC claimed the reassignment was in progress prior to him going public with the allegations. Privately, some suggested Lee’s outburst was in retaliation for being passed over for a top spot in an agency reorganization last year.
When contacted for a statement on the IG report, Lee said, “I have no comment and nothing to say.”
In his whistle-blower complaint last year, Lee said he believed Kennard and Kathryn Brown, Kennard’s chief of staff, violated or caused others to violate federal regulations and that their actions constituted gross mismanagement and an abuse of authority. Moreover, he said the actions were unethical and caused a public-safety risk.
Lee also filed a job discrimination complaint against the FCC but withdrew it in early February.
Lee claimed that after the FCC’s Dallas field office shut down an unlicensed low-power broadcaster last April in Ennis, Texas, Kennard-after speaking with Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas)-directed the Dallas field office to let Waco businessman Billy Meyer back on the air to broadcast the remainder of a drag-racing event to attendees at the Metroplex stadium.
The sports car race lasted several days, after which the temporary authorization given by Kennard ceased. Meyer wanted to build a $65 million drag racing facility in northeast Grand Prairie, Texas, but voters refused to help underwrite the project.
The Star-Telegram, citing Federal Election Commission records, reported last November that Meyer contributed at least $2,000 to Barton’s re-election campaigns.
Meyer, after initially being shut down by the FCC’s Dallas field office, had called Barton to complain. That prompted Barton’s call to Kennard.
In a press release on Nov. 5, 1999, the FCC said Meyer subsequently applied for a license, and was granted one in August 1999.
Lee offered a much different account about how Meyer got his license.
Lee, noting the FCC has shut down more than 500 unlicensed operators since 1997 and that unlicensed broadcast operations can interfere with aviation and air navigation radio signals, said in his complaint he was directed by Kennard via Mass Media Bureau Chief Roy Stewart to get Meyer a license.
Lee and Jim Wells, director of the FCC’s Dallas field office, refused. But Kennard again overruled both enforcement officials.
At that time, Kennard defended the action as a “pragmatic, common decision.” Barton, a ranking Republican on the House telecommunications subcommittee, also defended the action as legitimate.
Tauzin, one of the FCC’s biggest critics in Congress, declined to press the matter after speaking with Barton, a fellow Republican on the Commerce Committee.
