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4/19/2010
Time to quit whining about big telecom
One of the many votes in the legislature this week is Tuesday’s Assembly vote on AB 696 on re-regulation of telecoms in Wisconsin – streamlining regulations to correspond to the 21st century realities in the telecom marketplace (companion bill in Senate is SB 469).
Lobbying is really mixed on this thing. Michael Buelow at Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC) summarizes the situation.
Backers of the bills include telecom giant AT&T – which reportedly helped write the legislation – and the cable industry, while opponents include smaller telecommunications companies, grocers, municipal electric utilities, the AFL-CIO, Citizens Utility Board and the Communications Workers of America.
[Supporters also include the Fox Cities, Green Bay and Milwaukee Chambers of Commerce, the Wisconsin Business Council and the Wisconsin Economic Development Association.]
AT&T and the cable industry have contributed $506,974 to candidates for statewide office and the legislature since 2003. Opponents of the measures contributed $643,193 to state candidates from 2003 through 2009.
…. Plale [D-Milwaukee, the bill’s lead author] has received more campaign contributions from AT&T and the cable industry than any other legislative Democrat and ranks third among all of the 132 legislators for contributions by cable providers and the telecom giant. AT&T contributed $4,000 and the cable industry $6,446 to Plale from 2003 through 2009.
$10,000 over 7 years bought (moderate, pro-life, pro-gun, free market ‘Blue Dog’ Democrat) Sen. Plale? I don’t buy it. And I don’t buy this business that lobbyists “helped write the bill.” The Journal Sentinel’s Larry Sandler (and WDC’s Mike McCabe) takes off after “special interests… shaping laws before the public know the legislation is even being considered.”
An industry group submitted a list of laws that it wanted phone companies to be exempt from, and an AT&T attorney proposed language for a first draft of the bill, the Legislative Reference Bureau's drafting notes show.
Because telephone issues are highly technical, Plale said, "It's natural to turn to people who do this every single day… I don’t think it serves anyone's purpose to bring forward a bill that has not been vetted by those whose industry it affects."
Exactly. In this case, it’s all about regulation – and the wide diversity of phone companies around these days. It’s a very complicated bill, but the gist of it boils down to whether traditional phone companies should be regulated as the monopolies they once were – or is competition working in today’s market?
Jeff Bentoff, spokesperson for AT&T tells me pricing over 90% of AT&T’s lines doesn’t go to the PSC now – pricing freedom was granted years ago and those lines are already “priced by the market without PSC involvement.”
As a careful (frugal?) consumer who has carefully shopped landline phone service costs and service frequently, I buy it. And so should you. Decreasing the amount of regulatory hoops to be jumped through decreases costs – and increases the huge incentives the majors and minors have to compete for your business. It’s time for the regulators to stop whining and let the legislature pass these darn bills.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Just once, Jo, I'd like to hear you say "Damn, whether or not these bills will help the state and its economy, I sure wish campaign bribes did not distort the outcome." If you truly care about Wisconsin you will support honest government and not disregard the effects of cash.
Jack Lohman (Mon Apr 19 08:22:20 2010)
Jack,
Yes cash can play a role in how our representatives vote ... particularly in the absence of voter opinion on a topic. Campaign cash ALWAYS flows to fill that void.
But campaign cash does NOT come to US (the voters), so it doesn't influence OUR viewpoints or principles. Ultimately it's OUR job to voice our opinions and remind our representatives of the principles that we want controlling the votes.
Landline companies were once a monopoly and needed a good deal of oversight. I can't honestly say that Wisconsin's oversight of Wisconsin Bell was particularly effective in the first place (think 30 minutes on hold for customer non-service). But now, there are cell phones, Vonage, Skype, and the cable companies. We truly do have choices and market forces are obviously in play.
I say the regulation is no longer needed for landlines in the way it once was. A level playing field for all forms of telecom is where the PSC should now be focusing.
Jeff Riedl (Mon Apr 19 08:57:01 2010)
I use only a cell phone, Jeff, and have no land line. And I'm not criticizing either side of the regulation debate, but that the politicians allow campaign cash to drive their public decisions. Cash does not need to flow at all when the decision is right for the public, but it is needed to screw the public.
I'm particularly bothered when politicians accept "input" from citizens who are hoodwinked to gather by one side of the issue or the other. All that seems to matter today is who can rally the biggest crowd, and that seems to follow the amount of money at stake for the industry.
I'd rather see politicians deciding on the basis of referendums or independent (but trusted) taxpayer polls, though I worry about California's direct democracy (initiatives).
But the LAST thing I want influencing politicians is who gave them the most money.
Jack Lohman (Mon Apr 19 09:21:19 2010)
The fact that campaign cash is even an incentive for any legislator tells me the problem runs much deeper than who's got the cash to buy a legislative vote. It wouldn't be an incentive unless having more cash for your next campaign had a significant impact on your chances of staying in office. And if that has such a dramatic impact, clearly it's because people have to be stupid enough to a.) ignore that person's political aspirations - they're GOAL and PURPOSE for being in office, and b.) to fall for lame campaign commercials that say nothing of the candidate and everything about the other; -or both.
Is it just me? Or do we really have no apparent say in who represents us? How does guy 1 having $1 million and guy 2 having $500 thousand translate into guy 1 being the people's choice?
If we don't like big campaign $$, then why aren't we looking to candidates who haven't sold out? Unless we're part of the problem.
Andrew Ellis (Mon Apr 19 10:42:22 2010)
Andrew, we voters and indeed part of the problem. We listen to and believe the political rhetoric and ignore the candidate's cash flow (read: bribes) and voting record. But the politicians have also done everything they could to make it impossible for the voters to see their actual voting record.
And yes, in 90% of the races the candidate with the most money wins, unless he's a total dork. That's why cash is so important to the politician's livelihood. It disadvantages and discourages challengers from even running for office. Thus the politicians get very upset when activists want to stop fundraising.
Jack Lohman (Mon Apr 19 11:37:45 2010)
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