Regulatory capture occurs when governmental bodies created to act in the public interest instead advances the commercial or special interests that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating. Regulatory capture is a form of government failure, as it can encourage large firms to exploit the public.Sunlight: Congress’ Revolving Door to Telecom, Cable Firms
According to a 2010 Washington Post article, broadband providers including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, AT&T and Verizon Communications have amassed armies of former government officials to lobby against net neutrality and other regulations at the Federal Communications Commission, according to a report by the Sunlight Foundation. The nonprofit public interest organization said those firms hired 276 former government officials, including 18 former members of Congress, to fight against rules that would require them to treat all Web sites and content equally on their networks.
AT&T (T) has hired Republicans and Democrats from the US House and Senate to lobby for them including:
- Jim Davis former Democratic congressman from Florida;
- Trent Lott former Republican senator from Mississippi;
- Vic Fazio former Democratic representative from California;
- John Breaux former Republican senator from Louisiana;
- J.C. Watts former Republican representative from Oklahoma.
Comcast (CMCSA) has also hired former politicians like:
- Democratic representative Ron Klink from Pennsylvania;
- Republican Senator Don Nickles from Oklahoma;
- Democratic Representative William H. Gray from Pennsylvania.
Verizon (VZ) hired Republican representative Jack Fields from Texas.
The cable industry trade group National Cable & Telecommunications Association, hired Chip Pickering, a former Republican congressman from Mississippi.
The US Telecom Association, the Broadband Association hired Al Wynn former Democratic representative from Maryland.
Revolution LLC.
Ron Klain is General Counsel of former AOL CEO Steve Case’s Revolution LLC. Prior to joining Mr. Case’s firm Mr. Klain has extensive public service, most recently as a senior White House aide to President Obama, and Chief of Staff to Vice President Biden. He has also served as Chief of Staff or Staff Director for Vice President Al Gore, Attorney General Janet Reno, the Senate Democratic Leadership Committee, and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Mr. Klain was also Associate Counsel to President Clinton and a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Byron White. He has served as a top debate preparation advisor to Presidents Obama and Clinton, and Democratic Presidential nominees Al Gore and John Kerry.
State Department’s Katie Stanton Moves to Twitter
Twitter has captured Katie Stanton, a special adviser at the State Department and former White House staffer. She is heading to Twitter to work on international business strategy according to the Washington Post. Ms. Stanton tweeted her move to the social information platform’s San Francisco office. The Post says Ms. Stanton will be a vice president driving Twitter’s international business strategy and operations. Ms. Stanton previously worked at Google as a product manager for the search engine’s finance application.
She joined the White House as the director of citizen participation after working on new media strategies for President Obama’s election campaign. Stanton moved to the State Department last year, working with Alec Ross, senior adviser for innovation, on how to use social media tools and technology for diplomatic goals.
Facebook Hires White House Adviser as New VP
AppScout reported that Facebook has captured an economic adviser to President Obama to serve as its new vice president of global public policy. Marne Levine is the special assistant to the president for economic policy and chief of staff for the National Economic Council at the White House.
“With over 70 percent of our users living outside the United States, her unique mix of government and Internet industry experience will be invaluable to help Facebook address some of the most interesting questions at the intersection of technology and public policy,” Elliot Schrage, vice president of global communications at Facebook, said in a statement.
Levine will work out of Facebook’s D.C. office where she will oversee and coördinate interactions with governments and non-governmental organizations, Facebook said. She will also help to build Facebook policy teams in Asia, the Americas, and Europe.
According to the article Ms, Levine helped launch an online peer-to-peer payment platform and helped manage its privacy and compliance issues which are probably why Facebook hired her so she can lobby her former boss on privacy and banking issues.
Related articles
- Regulatory Capture in Industrial Age and Information Age Business (nationalspacestudiescenter.wordpress.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.