Wheeler Schedules Special Meeting to Force Vote on Enforcement Order
The FCC scheduled a special meeting Friday afternoon on an Enforcement Bureau order, the commission said on its website. Agency officials said calling the meeting mostly just reflects divisions on the FCC 8th floor. Agency and industry officials said Monday the order is a routine enforcement action, but Chairman Tom Wheeler scheduled the special meeting because the statute of limitations was set to run out on the proposed order and the FCC’s two Republicans had declined to vote.
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Three members of the FCC -- Wheeler and commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel -- had voted for the enforcement order on the commission’s electronic voting system by Monday afternoon, FCC officials said. Officials said the agency’s two Republicans, Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly, had not voted. Pai in particular has raised concerns about what he sees as the agency’s overly aggressive stance on enforcement actions under new Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc (see 1409090031), an FCC official said. The special meeting is to start at 2:30 p.m. EDT at FCC headquarters (http://fcc.us/1wkmfPK).
Wheeler had proposed a closed-door meeting Friday, but Pai and O'Rielly opposed that, insisting it be in the open, FCC officials said. Wheeler was unsuccessful in getting the three votes needed for a closed-door meeting, officials said. Officials said the meeting may or may not actually take place depending on whether the two Republicans vote on the order electronically. One official said the two Republican offices never said they would not vote on the enforcement action.
“It is highly unusual to want to have a meeting that’s closed to the press and they have no valid reason for doing it,” said one agency official. The officials declined to say what the enforcement covers, on instructions from the Office of General Counsel.