FCC Nominee Starks' Lack of Political Record Seen Behind Groups' Silence Amid Confirmation Process
Groups that typically would be expected to rally behind FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks have remained mostly quiet in the weeks since President Donald Trump sent the nomination to the Senate (see 1806010072 and 1806040067). That appears to reflect concerns the groups cited soon after Starks emerged in March (see 1803090040) as the likely nominee: with almost no track record and little else to go on, self-described public interest groups and others are reluctant to say too much about the nomination. Starks’ lack of a record is widely viewed as one of his selling points and an important reason the Senate is likely to easily confirm him, communications lawyers and others told us. The Senate Commerce Committee set Starks' confirmation hearing for Wednesday in what's perceived to be a bid to fast-track approval (see 1806120047 and 1806130096).
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Groups on the political left see little value in praising or criticizing Starks, who if confirmed would succeed former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, public interest group officials said. If they slam him, that could create a rift with him down the road, while praising him could hurt him with Senate Republicans, the officials said. “There’s concern that he may be very weak tea compared to the sort of principled and combative duos of opposing party commissioners we’ve seen in recent years,” said a senior official at one public interest group.
Clyburn “left some really big shoes to fill,” said former Commissioner Michael Copps. “My hope is that [Starks’] confirmation hearing will demonstrate his capacity, and his commitment, to try filling them.” Starks is an unknown, said telecom lawyer Francisco Montero of Fletcher Heald. “I recently saw an interview with [former FCC Chairman Tom] Wheeler and he admitted not knowing him,” Montero said: Starks is “likely to play it safe” and hold “his positions close to the vest. That” and his experience as an Enforcement Bureau assistant chief, make him “a relatively safe candidate to support for the Republicans.”
How Starks' policy positions will compare with those of Clyburn, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel or other past FCC Democrats is still very much “to be determined,” said Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood. “I couldn't even hazard a guess as to whether he would be more progressive or more conservative” than recent Democratic commissioners. “We just don't know enough," in large part because he “hasn't had a lot of opportunities” in his career in where he publicly talked about telecom policymaking, Wood said.
“People are making way too much of this,” said Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge. “I think it is much more a case that folks in the public interest community have done their due diligence, think Starks is a perfectly fine nomination, and have therefore moved on to other pressing concerns. If people in the public interest community had real concerns, there would be noise. This is not a community known for its silence when unhappy.” Feld said everyone he has talked to thinks Starks was a good choice: “Why make waves and risk backlash by industry or conservatives by issuing glowing endorsements when the nomination seems to be going just fine?” Nobody in the public interest world had much to say about Democrats Copps or Jonathan Adelstein either after they were nominated as commissioners, he said. “Neither of them had much of a public track record on telecom, either, and they turned out to be total public-interest rock stars.”
Boies Schiller telecom and antitrust lawyer Travis LeBlanc, EB chief under Wheeler, believes Starks will “follow in the footsteps” of Clyburn “on the issues that she's highlighted.” Starks “will want to see the [FCC] act in a bipartisan manner and he will be committed to all of the causes” Clyburn championed, LeBlanc said. The nominee is particularly interested in “consumer protection issues and ensuring the [FCC] is living up to its commitment to ensuring vulnerable communities are protected,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc cited Starks' experience working on Lifeline and other USF programs as an important guiding principle in understanding how Starks might operate as a commissioner. “He brings a wealth of experience” from becoming an expert in those programs and working with staff at Universal Service Administrative Co. and the FCC Wireline Bureau, and knowing “how to protect those programs from waste, fraud and abuse,” LeBlanc said: “I anticipate that given [Starks'] prosecutorial background” at DOJ and as a trial lawyer at Williams & Connolly, “he will be committed to ensuring that the commission's rules are enforced, that they are enforced impartially and that they are also developed impartially."
David Honig, president emeritus at the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, said as an FCC staffer, Starks likely won’t require much time to get up to speed, unlike some past nominees. “I don’t know him, never met him,” Honig said. “I’ve had conversations that I’ve initiated calling around to friends who do know him, all of whom speak of him in glowing terms.”
Honig has no idea where Starks stands on issues MMTC views as critical. “We don’t know where he comes out on redlining, on open internet regulation, on incubators,” Honig said. “We don’t have any right to expect anything other than the nominee is reasonable, thoughtful, well informed and has an open mind. … I’m quite comfortable waiting for him being sworn in and briefing him, and being briefed by him, on where he comes out on these things.”
Phoenix Center President Lawrence Spiwak said people always stop talking when nominated. “You just shut down,” Spiwak said. “You go into this limbo of just keeping your head down.” Starks probably doesn’t want or need the support of groups perceived as being on the left, Spiwak said. “In a Republican environment, do you want Free Press' endorsement?” he asked. “I don’t think so. Sometimes it’s just better to keep everybody quiet.” Starks didn't comment.