The FCC had “multiple conversations” with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa,...

of Strategic Planning Chief Paul de Sa and Josh Gottheimer, a senior aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. On Grassley’s question about Gottheimer’s previous employment with the public relations firm that now serves LightSquared, Sun said Gottheimer joined the commission in July 2010, “months after” the FCC conditionally approved the LightSquared plan. “The Commission’s career ethics staff reviewed his potential recusal requirements, as it does those of other FCC officials,” she said. “The ethics team determined that LightSquared and its predecessors were not clients of Mr. Gottheimer while he was employed by Burson-Marsteller, and Mr. Gottheimer did not work on those matters. Also, the public relations firm is not a participant in any relevant FCC proceeding.” De Sa “was one of many Commission staff, across at least five bureaus and offices, who participated in the Commission’s deliberations on LightSquared’s applications,” Sun said in a written statement. “That role was part of his job at the Commission, which he performed with distinction.” In its dealings with Grassley about LightSquared, the FCC is “following long standing practice,” consistent with Congressional Research Service guidance on requests from individual members, Sun said. The FCC is cooperating with the House Commerce Committee request for documents, she said. Grassley responded Thursday afternoon: “It’s rare to see an agency go to such extremes to avoid a response to a simple request unless the agency has something to hide.”