Pai's Early Days as Chairman Were Filled With Lawmaker Talks, Media Interviews

During the first weeks of Ajit Pai’s tenure as FCC chairman he was particularly active in meeting with the media and with lawmakers, according to a Special Report analysis of his appointment calendar obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Pai, like predecessor Tom Wheeler, also had many meetings in those early weeks with telco and media interests, with Pai early on more active gathering with public interest groups.

Obtaining a meeting with a chairman can be hard, and new chairmen always have to do numerous meet-and-greets with heads of major corporations and trade groups, a former bureau chief said. For a chairman, such meetings are often about having a relationship with key industry players because there might be instances when, rather than taking regulatory action, the agency uses its bully pulpit, the former chief said. That informal use of leverage is seen as a big part of what the agency does, and those phone calls are easier for the chairman if he has a personal relationship.

Who a chief meets could be reflective of that person’s priorities, especially if the meetings are skewed toward a particular group or toward special interests in general and not to public interest groups or other constituencies, said former Commissioner Michael Copps. That’s true under both GOP and Democratic regimes, he said.

Pai's early weeks included talking with the heads of or executives from companies such as Starry Internet, Dish Network, Verizon and Globalstar, plus such industry groups as NCTA and USTelecom. His calendar included a meeting in January with Debra Berlyn of the Consumer Privacy Awareness Project, Kim Keenan of the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and Rosa Mendoza of the Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership. In February, he spoke with Tech Freedom, Geeks Without Frontiers, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials and National Congress of American Indians.

Most meetings didn't include specified topics. Some did, like a January meeting with the Mobile Connectivity Group about 5.9 GHz and other spectrum and a January meeting with the American Cable Association and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association about rural issues.

Meeting the Media

Pai's calendar showed him taking part in 10 media interviews in January and February, in addition to media accessibility at the agency's monthly meetings. Pai hasn't given us an interview as chief and didn't comment on his media accessibility. Wheeler's calendar for his first few weeks in office in late 2013 and early 2014 indicated two blocks of news-media calls for a total of two hours.

Pai’s “media mastery … spans from social media to media law and regulation,” said Adonis Hoffman, a former aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn who now consults for companies. “The way he interstices popular culture with arcane rules of communication law is unparalleled, save for [former FCC and NCTA staffer] Dan Brenner, RIP” (see 1602170018). Hoffman said Pai is more a digital native “who understands both new and traditional media” than Wheeler. Pai's tweets evidence this, another story in this Special Report shows (see 1709260014).

Wheeler “did a good bit of media, I thought,” Copps said, saying he generally doesn’t agree with Pai on policy issues, but it’s “smart of him” to have an active news-media strategy. He said there have been past chairmen less media accessible than Pai or Wheeler.

That difference in media partly reflects different personalities of the two chairmen, but also that Wheeler was succeeding a previous Democratic chairman, while Pai's chairmanship is about changing direction of the agency on issues like net neutrality, said the former bureau chief. Thus Pai has more of a necessity to explain and get his story out to the media, the ex-official said.

Capitol Hill Outreach

Pai and Wheeler calendars show numerous meetings with Capitol Hill lawmakers of both parties. Pai over four days in February had 12 calls or meetings with lawmakers of both parties. And he had a Feb. 16 call with independent Sen. Angus King of Maine. The FCC in a statement said Pai "regularly engages with members of Congress and those meetings are generally informational and about how they can collaborate on shared priorities."

Such meetings are usually informational, but there are legislators who treat the independent agency “as a subservient organization,” and the appropriations process ensures they get quick responsiveness, Copps said. As chairman, Pai has faced contentious interactions with congressional Democrats and favorable treatment from Republicans, another Special Report article shows (see 1711070029).

“It is perfectly common and appropriate” for the FCC to be in frequent contact with Congress members and staff, said American University professor of practice in administrative law Jeffrey Lubbers. He said Congress “feels it has a bit more dominion” over independent agencies compared with cabinet departments or agencies.

Pai is far more proactive with the Hill than Wheeler, who “was almost always reactive,” Hoffman said. “Pai ... understands the value of relationships based on the exchange of information, intelligence and innuendo.” He said few FCC chairmen -- primarily Richard Wiley and Reed Hundt -- “really knew how to 'work the Hill' effectively," while other chairmen had more limited success.