Shameless

[Commentary] Last week, Federal Communications Commission member Meredith Atwell Baker announced that she was leaving the FCC to become the chief lobbyist for the newly merged Comcast/NBCUniversal. Only months before, Baker had voted to allow the historic and controversial merger between the cable company and the broadcast network, and though the 4-1 tally meant her vote had not provided the crucial margin, she was also on record complaining on multiple occasions that the FCC took too long to approve the deal. Baker’s announcement, however, was greeted with nary a shrug from the FCC and the congressmen tasked with its oversight. Her departure merited only a cursory statement from commission chair Julius Genachowski. Worse, when the FCC commissioners appeared before the House Communications and Technology subcommittee last Friday to discuss “FCC Process Reform,” subcommittee chair Greg Walden merely noted Baker’s absence and not a single representative asked a question related to the propriety of her recent move. One might be forgiven for asking: Why? The simple answer is that, sadly, what Baker did is not all that unusual. Baker is far from the first commissioner or staffer to leave the FCC and move right to the industry he or she just finished regulating.