Telecom Industry, Lawmakers Mourn Stevens
Former Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens died in a plane crash on the way to a fishing lodge in Alaska Monday night, state officials announced Tuesday. He was 86. Bill Phillips, previously an outside consultant to NCTA, was among the eight others also on the flight. Officials said there were four survivors, but named only ex-NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and his son. The plane and fishing lodge were owned by Alaskan telecom carrier GCI. The carrier didn’t immediately say what was the purpose of the outing.
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The GCI aircraft went down north of Dillingham, Alaska, Monday night, said company President Ronald Duncan. He said he couldn’t comment on reports that four of the nine people on board survived. NCTA didn’t have a contract with Phillips’ lobbying firm this year, an association spokesman said.
Stevens chaired the Senate Commerce Committee in the 109th Congress and was its ranking member in the 110th after the Democrats took power. He stepped down in July 2008 while facing a federal indictment. He was in Congress more than 40 years, 1968-2009.
Reed Hundt said that during his term as FCC chairman, 1992-1997, Stevens’ “wise counsel” about spectrum auctions and “was critical to producing a fair result and a tremendous benefit to the taxpayers.” Commissioner Robert McDowell said Stevens helped “connect rural America to the rest of the world through his tireless support of the Universal Service program.” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called Stevens “an important advocate for building our 21st Century communications infrastructure."
Stevens “shepherded some of the most important communications legislation through Congress during his tenure on the Senate Commerce Committee,” said NAB President Gordon Smith. His work “enabled communications connectivity for millions of Americans,” said the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance. Randy Tyree, a vice president at the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, said, “He was a no-holds-barred supporter of the” Universal Service Fund.