Democrats dismissed GOP alarm bells over the frequency of White...

November 2010, timed near events in the FCC’s net neutrality rulemaking. But in a memo released Monday, Democratic committee staff said Genachowski actually visited the White House 35 times, and many meetings didn’t relate to net neutrality. “Any way you cut it, the claim that Genachowski visited the White House 81 times is a mischaracterization,” they said. Democratic committee staff discovered 76 scheduled White House visits, but said Genachowski didn’t attend 41 of them. Of the remaining 35 events, 17 “are completely unrelated to net neutrality,” including Genachowski’s swearing-in ceremony and 2009’s White House turkey pardoning. Democratic committee staff said it was wrong of Issa to compare Genachowski’s number of visits with that of Cabinet secretaries. Issa said Genachowski’s alleged 81 visits equal the combined number by the secretaries of State, Defense, Energy, Treasury and Homeland Security, but, unlike Genachowski, cabinet secretaries are allowed to skip the usual White House visit registration system, the Democrats said. “The Secretaries attend literally hundreds of meetings with the President and his staff,” the Democrats said. Genachowski had more matters than net neutrality to discuss, added the Democratic committee staff. “The depth and breadth of the agency’s work is substantial, and in any given week, the FCC has numerous high-stakes matters to address,” the Democratic committee staff said in the memo. Oversight Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., has no plans at this time to weigh in himself, a spokeswoman said. Issa’s office declined to comment.