Posted on 03/19/2002 4:34:35 AM PST by GeneD
The battle in the United States Senate over the open Democratic seat on the Federal Communications Commission has taken another turn, with the Republican leader in the Senate throwing his support to an aide to the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to a report by the Reuters wire service.
Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., had declared his intention to block the nomination of an aide to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., for the open spot on the FCC. President Bush had already announced that he would put the aide, Jonathan Adelstein, forward for the opening that was created when Democrat Gloria Tristani resigned.
The move to keep Mr. Adelstein off the FCC was widely seen as Republican payback for the recent Democratic rejection of the nomination of Judge James Pickering, who is a personal friend of Sen. Lott, to the federal appeals court, according to the Reuters report. Sen. Lott denied that he was playing partisan politics with the FCC nomination, telling Reuters that Mr. Adelstein "doesn't have experience." Sen. Daschle took issue with that contention.
Sen. Lott will now back Andrew Levin, an aide to Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. Sen. Lott is “is supportive of this candidate because he has extensive experience in dealing with telecommunications and other matters that could come before the FCC,” an aide to the Republican Minority Leader told Reuters.
"Sen. Lott will now back Andrew Levin, an aide to Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich."
I would suggest that is a "yes".
Now, if you have the names of any good pro-business, anti-regulation, conservative Democrats who would be qualified for this position, please forward your suggestions to Trent Lott...
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