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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler_(FCC) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler_(FCC) "Tom Wheeler is the current Chairman of the FCC.[1] Prior to work

by jebblue 12y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler_(FCC) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler_(FCC) "Tom Wheeler is the current Chairman of the FCC.[1] Prior to working at the FCC, Wheeler worked as a venture capitalist and lobbyist for the cable and wireless industry." Wow. This looks especially bad for consumers.

lvs 12y ago
Who could possibly have foreseen this?
higherpurpose 12y ago
There should be laws against this sort of stuff. Like you can't work for a company in a related domain for 5 years before and after taking the government job. As it is, it just leads to too much corruption.
- ZachPruckowski 12y ago
  The problem with that is that the only folks qualified for these jobs are folks with some sort of recent related experience, and the only future job that this is revenue-boosting for is in related domains.
  - turing 12y ago
    But that doesn't mean that we have to appoint from within industry. There are probably many academics who would be just as qualified or more than former industry lobbyists. Moreover, these people would probably be more than happy to return to academia and research after serving their tenure.
- pyre 12y ago
  The flip side is that you won't want someone in said position that doesn't know anything about the industry. Do you want a luddite making technology policy, for example. Not that I'm all for regulatory capture or anything.
  - briantakita 12y ago
    > Do you want a luddite making technology policy No and that's exactly what we have right now.
  - rhizome 12y ago
    That is not a flip side, it's a false dichotomy, because there is an enormous middle ground there.
    - pyre 12y ago
      I never said it was a dichotomy. Just because I presented an opposing side of an issue does not mean that I'm presenting a dichotomy. One of the reasons that people are pulled from industry to fill these roles is because there is a view that they will understand the issues at play. This is true. We don't want people making policy decisions on issues that they barely understand. At the same time, it becomes the incestuous relationship that we have (aka Regulatory Capture) where there is incentive to make policy decisions that are pro-business while being anti-consumer. There is some sort of a middle-ground to be had, but saying things like "people should not be allowed to hold office if unless they've been out of the industry for at least 5 years" seems a bit naive.
      - rhizome 12y ago
        Well yes, "flip side" implies a dichotomy. What's the middle-ground of a coin's faces? It's not helpful to characterize alternatives as naive, ignorant, or Ludditic. The question is not one of naivety, but of actual policy, which is the stuff that affects all of us. How would the work of an outsider (or statutory redshirt) differ from a revolving-door candidate, one whose foundation is sell side? Seeing that we have a documented public history of the output of people in this role, what conclusions can we draw? Should the incestuous relationship merely be noted, as you do, before dispensing with alternatives?
        pyre 12y ago
        > Should the incestuous relationship merely be noted, as you do, before dispensing with alternatives? My thought is that saying someone can't work in the industry for 5 years prior might help with breaking up regulatory capture to a certain extent, but could have consequences on the people filling the role actually understanding the issues at hand. Your view seems to be closer to, "things are bad now, so we certainly can't do any worse." My view is that if we're going to make the effort to fix things, let's think things through rather than throwing things at the wall to see what sticks.
- lvs 12y ago
  The colloquial term for this is "revolving door."
  - ballard 12y ago
    There's three kinds of corruption: - apparent when there isn't (false positive - mistaken) - apparent when there is (obvious) - not apparent when there is (false negative - not obvious) I'd define corruption as a pattern of putting profit/loss considerations ahead of public interests. Other than personal ethics, this is a really hard thing to control for because it goes to why people want to be public servants and what are their interests/relationships.
    - username223 12y ago
      There's something to be said for lifetime appointments: "we trust you enough to give you this job and pay you enough to be comfortable for the rest of your life. If you clearly violate that trust, we'll impeach you and you will never again be trusted." I could be wrong, but I don't think federal judges and Supreme Court Justices participate in the revolving door. Supreme Court Justices are deeply political, but they're not sell-outs like Chris Dodd.
    - webXL 12y ago
      Is the first kind really corruption then? Corruption can be stopped when voters & consumers have more power than the politicians or their backers. No one can force you to vote a certain way or buy a certain product. You punish "public" "servants" by restricting their power, i.e. voting them out if they break the law or not enforcing the law equally.
tzs 12y ago
By "prior", they mean 30 years ago, at a time when the cable industry was the underdog fighting against the powerful broadcasters, and cable lobbyist [1] was a pro-consumer job. Looking at what he's been involved in since then [2], it's all over the place. There's stuff in cable, stuff in wireless, stuff in phone, co-founder of a company that repairs aerospace components, PBS director, and a bunch of other things. I'm kind of at a loss to comprehend how someone can have held so many positions. [1] It's not all clear that lobbyist is even accurate. He was the head of the largest cable industry trade association. Lobbying was one of the things they did. Calling their executives "lobbyists" would be kind of like calling the head of the American Medical Association a lobbyist. [2] http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=533926&privcapId=751092&previousCapId=7668333&previousTitle=TNS%20INC http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/pe...
- tptacek 12y ago
  In fairness, the head of the AMA is probably reasonably described as a lobbyist.
  - gavinpc 12y ago
    In fairness to whom?
  - 001sky 12y ago
    Examples of IRC § 501(c)(6) organizations include the Chamber of Commerce, Jaycees, American Bar Association, American Medical Association, and National Association of Manufacturers. The AMA is a c6 because: lobbying The organizational definitions in IRC §§ 501(c)(4), (c)(5), and (c)(6) do not contain any explicit limitations on lobbying. The organizations described in these three sections may participate in an unrestricted amount of lobbying so long as the lobbying is related to the organization's exempt purpose. In fact, organizations whose sole activity is lobbying may be recognized under these sections...{etc} Citation> Tax-Exempt Organizations: Political Activity Restrictions and Disclosure Requirements, Order Code RL33377
    - 12y ago
emehrkay 12y ago
Chris Dodd spent ~30+ years in congress and now he is the chairman/chief lobbyist for the MPAA. Funny (sad) how that works http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Dodd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Dodd

by jebblue 12y ago

lvs 12y ago

Who could possibly have foreseen this?

higherpurpose 12y ago

There should be laws against this sort of stuff. Like you can't work for a company in a related domain for 5 years before and after taking the government job. As it is, it just leads to too much corruption.

ZachPruckowski 12y ago
The problem with that is that the only folks qualified for these jobs are folks with some sort of recent related experience, and the only future job that this is revenue-boosting for is in related domains.
- turing 12y ago
  But that doesn't mean that we have to appoint from within industry. There are probably many academics who would be just as qualified or more than former industry lobbyists. Moreover, these people would probably be more than happy to return to academia and research after serving their tenure.
pyre 12y ago
The flip side is that you won't want someone in said position that doesn't know anything about the industry. Do you want a luddite making technology policy, for example. Not that I'm all for regulatory capture or anything.
- briantakita 12y ago
  > Do you want a luddite making technology policy No and that's exactly what we have right now.
- rhizome 12y ago
  That is not a flip side, it's a false dichotomy, because there is an enormous middle ground there.
  - pyre 12y ago
    I never said it was a dichotomy. Just because I presented an opposing side of an issue does not mean that I'm presenting a dichotomy. One of the reasons that people are pulled from industry to fill these roles is because there is a view that they will understand the issues at play. This is true. We don't want people making policy decisions on issues that they barely understand. At the same time, it becomes the incestuous relationship that we have (aka Regulatory Capture) where there is incentive to make policy decisions that are pro-business while being anti-consumer. There is some sort of a middle-ground to be had, but saying things like "people should not be allowed to hold office if unless they've been out of the industry for at least 5 years" seems a bit naive.
    - rhizome 12y ago
      Well yes, "flip side" implies a dichotomy. What's the middle-ground of a coin's faces? It's not helpful to characterize alternatives as naive, ignorant, or Ludditic. The question is not one of naivety, but of actual policy, which is the stuff that affects all of us. How would the work of an outsider (or statutory redshirt) differ from a revolving-door candidate, one whose foundation is sell side? Seeing that we have a documented public history of the output of people in this role, what conclusions can we draw? Should the incestuous relationship merely be noted, as you do, before dispensing with alternatives?
      - pyre 12y ago
        > Should the incestuous relationship merely be noted, as you do, before dispensing with alternatives? My thought is that saying someone can't work in the industry for 5 years prior might help with breaking up regulatory capture to a certain extent, but could have consequences on the people filling the role actually understanding the issues at hand. Your view seems to be closer to, "things are bad now, so we certainly can't do any worse." My view is that if we're going to make the effort to fix things, let's think things through rather than throwing things at the wall to see what sticks.
lvs 12y ago
The colloquial term for this is "revolving door."
- ballard 12y ago
  There's three kinds of corruption: - apparent when there isn't (false positive - mistaken) - apparent when there is (obvious) - not apparent when there is (false negative - not obvious) I'd define corruption as a pattern of putting profit/loss considerations ahead of public interests. Other than personal ethics, this is a really hard thing to control for because it goes to why people want to be public servants and what are their interests/relationships.
  - username223 12y ago
    There's something to be said for lifetime appointments: "we trust you enough to give you this job and pay you enough to be comfortable for the rest of your life. If you clearly violate that trust, we'll impeach you and you will never again be trusted." I could be wrong, but I don't think federal judges and Supreme Court Justices participate in the revolving door. Supreme Court Justices are deeply political, but they're not sell-outs like Chris Dodd.
  - webXL 12y ago
    Is the first kind really corruption then? Corruption can be stopped when voters & consumers have more power than the politicians or their backers. No one can force you to vote a certain way or buy a certain product. You punish "public" "servants" by restricting their power, i.e. voting them out if they break the law or not enforcing the law equally.

tzs 12y ago

By "prior", they mean 30 years ago, at a time when the cable industry was the underdog fighting against the powerful broadcasters, and cable lobbyist [1] was a pro-consumer job. Looking at what he's been involved in since then [2], it's all over the place. There's stuff in cable, stuff in wireless, stuff in phone, co-founder of a company that repairs aerospace components, PBS director, and a bunch of other things. I'm kind of at a loss to comprehend how someone can have held so many positions. [1] It's not all clear that lobbyist is even accurate. He was the head of the largest cable industry trade association. Lobbying was one of the things they did. Calling their executives "lobbyists" would be kind of like calling the head of the American Medical Association a lobbyist. [2] http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=533926&privcapId=751092&previousCapId=7668333&previousTitle=TNS%20INC http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/pe...

tptacek 12y ago
In fairness, the head of the AMA is probably reasonably described as a lobbyist.
- gavinpc 12y ago
  In fairness to whom?
- 001sky 12y ago
  Examples of IRC § 501(c)(6) organizations include the Chamber of Commerce, Jaycees, American Bar Association, American Medical Association, and National Association of Manufacturers. The AMA is a c6 because: lobbying The organizational definitions in IRC §§ 501(c)(4), (c)(5), and (c)(6) do not contain any explicit limitations on lobbying. The organizations described in these three sections may participate in an unrestricted amount of lobbying so long as the lobbying is related to the organization's exempt purpose. In fact, organizations whose sole activity is lobbying may be recognized under these sections...{etc} Citation> Tax-Exempt Organizations: Political Activity Restrictions and Disclosure Requirements, Order Code RL33377
  - 12y ago

emehrkay 12y ago

Chris Dodd spent ~30+ years in congress and now he is the chairman/chief lobbyist for the MPAA. Funny (sad) how that works http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Dodd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Dodd