["I could not have imagined that legions of cable and media
industry lobbyists, their bought-and-paid-for surrogates, and dark
money political groups with bottomless pockets would distort my over
30-year history as a consumer advocate into an absurd caricature of
blatant lies."]
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‘A VERY DARK DAY’: FCC NOMINEE GIGI SOHN WITHDRAWS AFTER
RELENTLESS ATTACK BY TELECOM LOBBY  
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Jessica Corbett
March 7, 2023
Common Dreams
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_ "I could not have imagined that legions of cable and media industry
lobbyists, their bought-and-paid-for surrogates, and dark money
political groups with bottomless pockets would distort my over 30-year
history as a consumer advocate into an absurd caricature of blatant
lies." _

Gigi Sohn testifies during a Senate Commerce, Science, and
Transportation Committee confirmation hearing examining her nomination
to be appointed commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission
on February 9, 2022 in Washington, D.C., Pete Marovich-Pool/Getty
Images

 

Longtime public advocate Gigi Sohn on Tuesday announced that she asked
U.S. President Joe Biden to withdraw her nomination
[[link removed]] to the Federal
Communications Commission after over a year of enduring a smear
campaign
[[link removed]]
from dark money groups, telecommunications industry lobbyists, and
right-wing figures.
"I could not have imagined that legions of cable and media industry
lobbyists, their bought-and-paid-for surrogates, and dark money
political groups with bottomless pockets would distort my over 30-year
history as a consumer advocate into an absurd caricature of blatant
lies," Sohn said
[[link removed]]
in a statement. "The unrelenting, dishonest, and cruel attacks on my
character and my career as an advocate for the public interest have
taken an enormous toll on me and my family."

While her announcement came just after U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin
(D-W.Va.), a frequent obstacle to his own party's priorities,
confirmed
[[link removed]]
Tuesday that he would not support the nomination, Sohn's lengthy
statement—shared with
[[link removed]]_The
Washington Post_—signaled that she decided to bow out after speaking
with her family on Monday.

According to Sohn:

Unfortunately, the American people are the real losers here. The FCC
deadlock, now over two years long, will remain so for a long time. As
someone who has advocated for my entire career for affordable,
accessible broadband for every American, it is ironic that the 2-2 FCC
will remain sidelined at the most consequential opportunity for
broadband in our lifetimes. This means that your broadband will be
more expensive for lack of competition, minority, and underrepresented
voices will be marginalized, and your private information will
continue to be used and sold at the whim of your broadband provider.
It means that the FCC will not have a majority to adopt strong rules
which ensure that everyone has nondiscriminatory access to broadband,
regardless of who they are or where they live, and that low-income
students will continue to be forced to do their school work sitting
outside of Taco Bell because universal service funds can't be used for
broadband in their homes. And it means that many rural Americans will
continue the long wait for broadband because the FCC can't fix its
Universal Service programs.

It is a sad day for our country and our democracy when dominant
industries, with assistance from unlimited dark money, get to choose
their regulators. And with the help of their friends in the Senate,
the powerful cable and media companies have done just that.

After thanking Biden—who first nominated her to the post in October
2021 and has stood by the choice—as well as the hundreds of
organizations and advocates who have supported
[[link removed]] her
throughout the process, Sohn said that "I hope the president swiftly
nominates an individual who puts the American people first over all
other interests. The country deserves nothing less."

During a media briefing Tuesday afternoon, White House Press Secretary
Karine Jean-Pierre praised Sohn.

"We appreciate Gigi Sohn's candidacy for this important role. She
would have brought tremendous intellect and experience, which is why
the president nominated her in the first place. We also appreciate her
dedication to public service, her talent, and her years of work as one
of the nation's leading public advocates on behalf of American
consumers and competition," said Jean-Pierre, who declined to comment
on what's next.

"The abject failure of Democratic leaders to stand up and advocate for
their own nominee means that these companies will likely only double
down on the kinds of deceitful and dirty tactics they deployed against
Sohn."

Meanwhile, advocacy groups that rallied behind Sohn not only expressed
disappointment that she won't be on the FCC but also took aim at
Democratic leadership for failing to adequately stand up for her in
the face of dishonest attacks.

"Gigi would have provided the final key vote needed to move forward on
major White House priorities including net neutrality, digital
discrimination, privacy, network competition, broadband maps, and the
digital divide," said Demand Progress communications director Maria
Langholz. "Sohn's nomination was marred by right-wing extremist
attacks that centered on misinformation and politics of division and
hate rather than her record and role at the FCC. While it would be
easiest to blame the right-wing for her nomination failing, there was
missing urgency and commitment from Democrats in the White House and
Senate."

"With Sohn now out of consideration, we expect the White House to
provide a strong nomination in the immediate future," Langholz added.
"The American people cannot afford to have this stalemate at the FCC
any longer. President Biden must expeditiously move forward a nominee
who will be a champion on net neutrality and privacy, and avoid
delivering big telecommunications companies a victory in the form of
an industry-friendly pick."

Free Press president and co-CEO Craig Aaron similarly said that
"they're probably celebrating at Comcast and Fox today, and their
lobbyists deserve most of the credit for concocting lies to derail her
nomination. Republicans who willfully spread those lies must be
thrilled, too. But they're not the only ones to blame: The failure of
Democratic leaders to stand up to industry-orchestrated smears cost
the agency—and the nation—a true public servant."

"The abject failure of Democratic leaders to stand up and advocate for
their own nominee means that these companies will likely only double
down on the kinds of deceitful and dirty tactics they deployed against
Sohn," he warned. "We're angry about how Sohn was treated, and we're
disturbed that Democratic leaders by and large failed to speak out
against the lies, bigotry, and innuendo surrounding her nomination.
But the answer here is not going back to the way things used to be at
the FCC, when the industry got to hand-pick commissioners. Going
backward would be a terrible mistake."

"There will be temptation in the weeks ahead to put forward an
industry-friendly nominee to avoid a larger political fight. That's
how the agency has worked in the past," Aaron added. "But the
public—now more than ever—needs an independent voice at this
crucial agency, one who won't cave to the industries they are supposed
to regulate. Though Gigi Sohn deserved much, much better, we can only
hope this moment will finally serve as a wake-up call to the Biden
administration and the Democratic Party."

"Democrats promised to restore net neutrality and FCC oversight of
telecom monopolies, and instead they caved to corporate interests and
homophobic smears."

Fight for the Future director Evan Greer also expressed concern that
the development will be followed by an industry-backed pick.

"Let's be perfectly clear: Democrats promised to restore net
neutrality and FCC oversight of telecom monopolies, and instead they
caved to corporate interests and homophobic smears. The same telecom
companies that were caught red-handed funding a flood of fraudulent
comments
[[link removed]]
to the FCC and paying for misleading robocalls
[[link removed]]
to senior citizens to kill net neutrality rules now will seemingly get
to pick their own regulator, just as they did with Ajit Pai," Greer
said, referring to a former FCC chair.

Internet service providers (ISPs) "are under immense pressure to
censor legitimate content, including websites with accurate
information about abortion care and LGBTQ issues, with state
legislatures passing bills demanding ISPs block
[[link removed]]
entire websites," she noted. "Meanwhile, lack of FCC oversight has
enabled collection and sale of cel phone location data that puts
vulnerable communities at risk of stalking, harassment, and
surveillance. A fully staffed FCC could address these issues. Biden's
deadlocked FCC is utterly impotent. And marginalized communities will
pay the price for Democrats' incompetence and cowardice."

As for Biden's next nominee, Greer said that "we will fight tooth and
nail to ensure that they don't pick another Ajit Pai clone. We demand
an FCC commissioner that will fight for the public interest, and one
that has no ties to the telecom industry that the agency is supposed
to regulate."

_This post has been updated with comment from Fight for the Future._

* Federal Communications Agency Nominee ; Gigi Sohn Withdraws;
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