| Rivera lobbying |
| Wednesday, 26 November 2008 20:35 |
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Monday after the election, Henry Rivera or one of his supporters told the press he would choose Obama's FCC Chairman. This would have Researching Iowa Telecom, I discovered that Rivera had actively lobbied the FCC late in October. Since the press reported he wasn't a lobbyist any more, I was surprised to see the below filing in his name. Incidentally, the cause he was supporting, a subsidy for Iowa Telecom, would be an obvious mistake by the FCC. My earlier research convinced me most of the money would go to the company's bottom line, not increased investment .Rivera is a pretty big gun, but he brought in the ultimate Republican lobbyist, Dick Wiley. Among other things, FCC chair Kevin Martin formerly worked for Wiley, Rein, and might want to be a partner there one day. Rivera's other partner, Nancy Victory, has also been at the FCC trying to get a huge and clearly inappropriate subsidy for Carlos Slim of Telmex, one of the world's richest men. He bought Puerto Rico from Verizon for a price calculated without subsidy. Now Victory is back, trying to get him some money. Here's Rivera's October ex parte filing. October 29, 2008EX PARTE |
been odd, considering Rivera was a partner of the uber-Republican FCC lobbyists Wiley, Rein. By later that day, key Obama supporters were telling me that was simply wrong - especially because at least one of his rumored choices was totally inappropriate. Obama spoke of avoiding lobbyists, with the loophole he was only referring to "registered" lobbyists. Rivera hadn't registered as a lobbyist for several years, but he discreetly was moved to a different post in the transition away from the FCC.