Steve Hilton asks Trump’s FCC to stand down in California landline dispute

Republican Steve Hilton has found rare common ground with Democrats in an unlikely arena: landline phone service. The GOP candidate for governor is urging the federal government to stay out of California’s push to prevent AT&T from ending landline service via copper wiring to around 184,000 residential customers and 15,000 business customers. The debate stems over a Federal Communications Commission action on June 29 that advanced the company’s plans, over the objection of California regulators, many residents, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta. In a letter to FCC Chair Brendan Carr, Hilton said he too opposes the move, which he claims was driven by “Washington bureaucrats.” The former Fox News host, who faces an uphill campaign against Democrat Xavier Becerra in a deep blue state, argues the change would jeopardize service used by rural Californians. And while Hilton has regularly taken aim at California regulations that he argues stifle the state’s economy, he said the state is “more than capable of deciding whether our own residents still need landlines as a public-safety backstop.”