Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FCC Chief to Stay Until Bush Administration Ends (He Thinks)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 02:07:38 -0400

FCC Chief to Stay Until Bush Administration Ends (He Thinks)

September 23, 2003

By Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON (Reuters)

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell said on Tuesday he
would stay at the agency until the end of the Bush administration, halting
speculation that he would leave any time soon.

"I don't know how many times I have to say this, once and for all, for the
record, I am staying until the end of the president's administration,"
Powell told Reuters in a telephone interview. "We have a large and important
agenda ahead."

He said his agenda would include efforts to accelerate the deployment of
high-speed Internet access as well as review prices new local telephone
carriers pay for access to the networks of dominant local carriers, among
other issues.

Powell has come under widespread criticism for designing new media ownership
limits that allow television networks to acquire more local stations and
permit a company to own a newspaper, television station and radio outlets in
a market.

Some lawmakers in Congress have tried to overturn the new FCC media
regulations while consumer advocates have challenged them in court.
President Bush said in a television interview on Monday that he supported
Powell and his efforts.

In February, Powell lost a bruising battle to relax rules that required
dominant local telephone carriers to continue sharing their networks with
rivals at government-mandated wholesale prices.

Fellow Republican Commissioner Kevin Martin sided with the two FCC Democrat
commissioners to keep the restrictions unless state regulators decided
otherwise.

As a result, speculation has swirled in Washington circles that Powell would
leave the agency, sometime between now and early next year. President Bush's
current term ends in early 2005 unless reelected.

Powell's term as an FCC commissioner expires in June 2007. If Bush were not
to win reelection, the new president could designate a new FCC chairman.
Powell declined to say whether his statement included if Bush won a second
term.

Powell, 40 and the son of Secretary of State Colin Powell, has been at the
agency since being appointed by then-President Bill Clinton in late 1997 and
designated FCC chairman in the early days of President Bush's presidency in
2001.

He previously worked in the antitrust division at the U.S. Justice
Department and served in the U.S. Army.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=industryNews&storyID=3496207

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/