Hoffman: FCC Is 'Beleaguered' and 'Browbeaten'

The FCC is “beleaguered” and “browbeaten by Congress,” and proposed rule changes on net neutrality and digital discrimination will marginalize the agency, said former agency senior aide Adonis Hoffman Monday in an opinion column that appeared in The Hill and was published on The Media Institute's website. Hoffman, CEO of consulting firm The Advisory Counsel, is a former aide to then-FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The FCC is criticized by consumers, and “pilloried in the press,” despite doing “amazing work," wrote Hoffman. Whether its woes are due to lack of leadership, errant enforcement or partisan politics is hard to say.” The agency will “more than likely” lose a court challenge against its net neutrality proposals, Hoffman said. The FCC would also lose legal challenges to a digital discrimination order, he said. “Signs are that the Commission is posturing to adopt a standard different from what other federal agencies have already adopted. If so, the agency’s ruling could once again be overturned by a federal appeals court.”