Wheeler channels Bernie to regulate set-top boxes

[Commentary] It is all too clear who is running the Federal Communications Commission these days, and it’s not Chairman Tom Wheeler.

A Huffington Post article — “Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren may have just saved consumers $14 billion” — appeared the day after Chairman Wheeler’s Recode op-ed and credits presidential candidate Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) with the set-top box initiative. Sen Sanders must agree that he deserves the credit; his campaign website provides text from the article and its headline and makes no mention of Chairman Wheeler. Even Chairman Wheeler seems unabashed regarding the political underpinnings of the initiative. His op-ed and FCC blog cite no studies by FCC economists or engineers and no agency reports. Instead, he quotes statistics (without attribution) from Sens Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). These senators collected information from cable and satellite providers in July 2015 and summarized it on Markey’s website. According to The Huffington Post, Sens Sanders and Warren orchestrated a letter to Chairman Wheeler calling for him to do just what he has done. Sens Markey and Al Franken (D-MN) signed on.

The FCC needs revitalization. My primary function at my university is to provide education for regulatory agencies around the world so that they are able to serve their roles effectively and efficiently. I know regulators in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and Asia that are shining examples of what an agency should be. These professional organizations serve their countries well. The FCC used to be that caliber of organization and should be again. If the president is unwilling to provide leadership in revitalizing the FCC — and this seems likely given that he has had his way with the agency — then Congress should do so by removing commissioner authority over industry reports, holding the agency accountable for the lack of substantive analyses in its decisions, and shining a light on its own complicity in aligning with commissioners along party lines. The courts should also act by not deferring to expert agencies whose expertise has been compromised. The work of the FCC is too important to the country to give it up without a fight.

[Jamison is the director and Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida]