At FCC chairman dinner, biggest buzz comes from the crowd

At an annual dinner honoring the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, special attention was paid to Julius Genachowski as he struggles to gain enough support to pass his controversial network neutrality proposal.

The FCC chairman made plenty of self-deprecating jokes about observations that he takes too long to make decisions and has amassed critics on all sides of the policy and political spectrum. "Welcome to the latest in a series of secret meetings," Chairman Genachowski said to an audience of several hundred telecommunications bar association members. He was referring to unsuccessful closed-door negotiations in network neutrality between his chief of staff, Eddie Lazarus, and AT&T, Verizon, the cable trade group National Cable and Telecommunications Association and a coalition representing public interest groups and Web giants Google, Amazon and Facebook. But true to form, Chairman Genachowski didn't break news, and what was perhaps most interesting was commentary from observers and FCC officials about his chances at getting his proposal passed later this month.