A top state telecom official will join the House Commerce...

A top state telecom official will join the House Commerce Committee staff, incoming Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said Wednesday. Ray Baum, chairman of the Oregon Public Utilities Commission and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Telecom Committee, will be senior policy adviser for the Communications Subcommittee under Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. Meanwhile, Neil Fried -- who was senior minority counsel under Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas -- will stay on the committee as chief counsel of the Communications Subcommittee. As state chair of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Baum had been active in efforts to revamp the Universal Service Fund. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., the incoming vice chairman of the Communications Subcommittee, has said he will reintroduce USF legislation early in the session (CD Nov 23 p5). Baum is leaving NARUC and the Oregon PUC, a NARUC spokesman confirmed: “He will be greatly missed, but we wish him the best.”