On Telecom, Martin Leaning More on Advisers Outside His Staff

To get an order to the eighth floor, wireline lobbyists said, they must win over Shaffer. She used to be deputy chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and has also worked in the offices of Commissioners Deborah Tate and Robert McDowell. She has influence with Martin similar to former chief Tom Navin’s, an industry source said. Lobbying aides is important because they brief Shaffer, but she is the first decision maker who must be won over on wireline matters, another lobbyist said.

After Shaffer decides on a position, she’s the one who takes it to the eighth floor, we're told. There she works closely with Dillner, and together they brief Martin, a lobbyist said. Martin decides what happens next.

On the wireless side, influence is spread among a few senior advisers. “One of the surprising things is how many wireless issues are not handled by the Wireless Bureau,” an industry lawyer said. “It’s either wireline on things like USF, or Public Safety.”

Campbell, who used to be Martin’s wireless adviser, was identified by all observers as a central player -- though the bureau’s work has been reduced with the Public Safety Bureau’s creation. Derek Porch, who has been a police chief and the bureau’s chief, carries weight because he was brought in by Martin, but sources said he doesn’t attend every important meeting on public safely. Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, is a holdover from previous chairmanship but has grown in importance as Martin has come to rely on his technical advice, sources said.

Officials agreed that the best way to get the chairman’s attention on wireless is to lobby Campbell and Goldberger. An agency source said Campbell can make decisions on smaller items that used to be made in the chairman’s suite. Allowing the bureau to move on less significant matters has helped with the agency’s backlog, the source said. Campbell has “more of the chairman’s trust,” the source said. But on “anything that is very important, the chairman is going to be very deeply involved.”

“You know going in you have to talk to Fred and Aaron, since they have Martin’s ear,” said a lawyer active on wireless matters. “You have to talk to other staff, too, but [Campbell and Goldberger] are important to getting things done.”

A wireless attorney said she recently had a meeting at the FCC that Campbell couldn’t come to. It’s frustrating knowing that she will have to schedule another meeting to have the best chance of getting the chairman’s attention. “Fred has his hands on all the wireless issues,” a lawyer said. “Fred may be advising [Martin] more. Before I think [Martin] was telling Fred, ‘This is what I want.’ Fred is now sharing with him, ‘This is what I think we should do.'”

Some wireline lobbyists said they see Shaffer and other bureau chiefs as Martin loyalists. But it’s “human nature” for FCC chairmen to appoint chiefs that share their views, and previous chairmen have done it, said Dan Mitchell, legal affairs vice president for the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. Shaffer is “as independent as she can be,” and her highly personable nature sets her apart from “classic bureaucratic drones” that have worked for the FCC, an industry source said. That style can rub some the wrong way, said another. In meetings, Shaffer is upfront and challenges visitors’ views. She “will tell you why that’s silly,” the source said. “It doesn’t matter who you are. Dana will give you a hard time.”

Deputy Bureau Chiefs Julie Veach and Donald Stockdale are widely considered Shaffer’s top advisers. But lobbyists we talked with didn’t agree on who the other players in the bureau are. Several said that the most important staffers are specialized and work only on some matters. Bureau staffers are seen as having little say over final orders. That’s mainly because a majority of the commissioners rarely agree with an order as drafted, Mitchell said. Often an eighth floor “battle of the wills” leads to many changes, he said. Another industry official criticized Martin’s top-down policy approach, which he said “stifled independent thinking.” “Great people” in the bureau and elsewhere in the commission “too often have been overlooked,” agreed another.

Many lobbyists consider bureau visits required protocol. Lobbyists expect to have the most effect on the eighth floor, but meeting with the bureau is a prerequisite. Usually the bureau just agrees with the chairman, an industry official said. A lobbyist walks into the bureau “with the expectation they won’t fight for your cause on the eighth floor,” said another.

Some saw the bureau’s power as having decreased greatly over the years. Bureaus are also less helpful, said another lobbyist, who recently asked the bureau a question on a published order but got no additional information. A decade ago, the bureau would have explained its reasoning in detail, the lobbyist said.

But another lobbyist called the power structure consistent with past commissions’. The bureau isn’t supposed to be an independent body but to reflect the consensus of the commission, the lobbyist said. It’s not a structure unique to the Martin administration, another agreed. The bureaus didn’t have more independence under former chairmen Michael Powell and William Kennard, the source said. “At the end of the day, the staff doesn’t control what the order means… [It] means whatever three commissioners upstairs says it means.”

Bureau staff are seen by some as disconnected from the industry. Staff used to take part more in industry conferences than they do now, giving them greater “peripheral vision,” an industry source said. Aides are now more hesitant to talk to business people, and they look through a “rear-view mirror” rather than ahead when drafting orders, he said.