Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
Gigi Sohn, nominee to be a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, during her confirmation hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee, February 14, 2023
Blocked by several Democratic senators who succumbed to a fierce lobbying campaign by Big Telecom and Big Tech, Gigi Sohn withdrew her nomination to be the tie-breaking commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. This loss leaves the FCC deadlocked, with two Republicans and two Democrats.
Sohn was a superbly qualified nominee for the post. From 2013 to 2016, she was counselor to then-FCC chair Tom Wheeler. From 2001 to 2013, Sohn served as the co-founder and CEO of Public Knowledge. Previously, she was a program officer on media at the Ford Foundation and executive director of the Media Access Project, a public-interest law firm.
Sohn was long a champion of net neutrality. Her sin was to be too vigorous and too well-informed an advocate of the public interest in telecom policy. She also would have been the first LGBTQ commissioner of the FCC, which made her the target of a whispering hate campaign.
Joe Manchin was the most public of Sohn’s adversaries, having issued a statement Tuesday saying that “the commission must remain above the toxic partisanship that Americans are sick and tired of, and Ms. Sohn has clearly shown that she is not the person to do that.”
This is of course not about partisanship but about doing industry’s bidding. As the Prospect’s Luke Goldstein has reported, the telecom industry spent $23 million in 2022, much of it toward blocking Sohn’s appointment. A former Manchin aide now lobbies for Comcast.
And reporting by the Daily Dot revealed that two other senators, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, equivocated on their support. Both were just re-elected, so this is entirely about sucking up to Big Tech and not about home-state political risks. Three other senators who are up for re-election in 2024, Sens. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and Jon Tester of Montana, reportedly didn’t want the nomination reported out of committee unless they had assurances that the full Senate would vote to confirm.
This lost nomination leaves the FCC deadlocked and unable to address crucial issues. The biggest issue is that net neutrality protections to prevent internet service providers from throttling content are stalled, as Republicans oppose them. The commission will also be hamstrung in policing wireless company abuses such as selling user location data, or to require broadband companies to upgrade service to low-income communities, or to better regulate excessive cable company fees, if Democrats and Republicans on the panel cannot find consensus.
President Biden can share the blame. He delayed sending the Senate the nomination for several months. Then there were three separate confirmation hearings, further delaying the process and giving the industry more time to build opposition. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Biden’s very first fundraiser for his 2020 presidential campaign was at the home of a Comcast lobbyist.
Whoever is responsible, American consumers will pay the price.
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