Wheeler Getting Points for Style First Week on the Job, But Hard Decisions to Follow

Several FCC sources said Wheeler is in his honeymoon period and gets high marks so far for style, though they are seeing little yet of substance from the new chairman. FCC officials said the other offices have heard little from Wheeler since he took the helm. Wheeler has also started a round of meetings with top industry officials, including one with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, who was at the FCC Wednesday, FCC officials said. Also on Wednesday, Wheeler met with leaders of disability groups to discuss how networks can better serve the disabled community. Wheeler also appears to be taking a deep dive on incentive auction issues, following comments Gary Epstein, head of the Incentive Auction Task Force, made at a spectrum conference last week (CD Nov 7 p1).

Wheeler scheduled a meeting for next Tuesday of the heads of several major associations, according to someone familiar with the invitations. More than a dozen different organizations were invited, including telecom, wireless, cable and broadcast groups, she said. Wheeler indicated he hopes to have a “candid conversation” about his policy objectives and the issues facing the agency, she said. “No other chairman in recent memory has done something like this,” she said. “He’s definitely reaching out."

More meetings have followed at the FCC as well, including a session with FCC veterans late last week before the Veterans Day holiday. Also Friday, Wheeler stopped by an FCC workshop to discuss the importance of unlicensed spectrum, which has been an administration focus. The meeting with staff, which has since been posted online (http://fcc.us/1aEyz0n), offers FCC observers an extended view of the new chairman in action, hugging his predecessor Mignon Clyburn, calling up his newly appointed staff to take a bow, reassuring his new colleagues on the commission he has been reading all they have had to say, and reassuring industry that the FCC on his watch will be a “nimble” agency.

"Suffice it to say, I really believe that we're the federal optimism agency because the 21st Century flows through us,” Wheeler told staff. “Great rewards require great risks. I've been a venture capitalist for almost the last decade and I can tell you that’s what’s it’s all about. You take risks and if you do things wisely you get rewards.” Wheeler said at the meeting with staff and at the unlicensed workshop he understands “all wisdom does not reside on the eighth floor” at the FCC. Wheeler repeated at both what he calls “an absolute, solid golden rule” that “there is no such good thing as a good surprise.” He told staff if something goes wrong, his advice is “face up to it, deal with it and let’s move on.”

Wheeler chairs his first FCC meeting Thursday, though the agenda is light, with the only real action on a declaratory ruling that could lead to a loosening of restrictions against foreign ownership of U.S. broadcast stations. Also scheduled are two updates, on USF reform and on an FCC speed test app for Android smartphones. A few more personnel decisions are expected soon, with industry officials predicting Wheeler will name new chiefs at the Media and Public Safety bureaus.

Wheeler is getting good reviews so far. “Tom is off to a rollicking good start,” said former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who was acting chair at the beginning of the Obama administration. “I especially welcome how he is communicating with the entire FCC team. The real work lies ahead but the team work can get it done."

"Chairman Wheeler’s first 10 days have been about what one would expect -- but well done,” said John Nakahata of Wiltshire Grannis, a former FCC chief of staff. “He has set out the big themes for his chairmanship, and has reached out to his fellow commissioners and to the career staff for their ideas. He has brought in a first-rate team. It is far too early to expect dramatic orders.”

Blair Levin, former FCC chief of staff and now a fellow at the Aspen Institute, said Wheeler had a very good first week. “The really, singly most important thing is he understands he’s running an institution and that institution needs to see a certain a kind of leadership that’s hands on, that understands the issues, that understands the challenges, that understands you want to reward people who know how to work within the institution,” Levin said.

"Setting an appropriate tone, acting quickly to fill key leadership posts and reaching out to the FCC’s dedicated civil servants should be at the top of any new chairman’s ’to do’ list,” said former Commissioner Robert McDowell. “Tom has accomplished those tasks with aplomb. He won’t have much time for a honeymoon, however. The easy part is quickly coming to a close with his in-box overflowing with a mountain of work."

"I think Chairman Wheeler will be open and user friendly -- by that I mean he will not stay in an ivory tower and issue snippets of wisdom or dictum,” said Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association and the legislative lobbyist for CTIA when Wheeler headed that association. “He is hands on and very involved in the subject matter and policy debates. I think the tone he is trying to establish is the FCC chairman will be accessible to the entire industry and consumers that interface with the FCC."

Wheeler’s openness to big ideas and respect for the work of the FCC staff are noteworthy, said Free State Foundation President Randolph May. “So far, he’s conveying a sense of ‘we've got some important work to do’ along with a sense of some regulatory humility,” May said. “I think that’s a good tone to convey. Of course, we haven’t seen any significant decisions yet. When we do, I hope the sense of regulatory humility -- that is, a sense that regulatory intervention should not be the default option -- will continue."

"Traditionally, the first commission meeting of a new chairmanship is devoted to 50,000-foot level reports from senior staff,” said David Honig, president of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council. “While the Nov. 14 agenda contains two such reports, it’s striking that the first item of the agenda of this first meeting of the Wheeler chairmanship is the relaxation of the 101-year old broadcast foreign ownership policy,” Honig said. “That’s significant on several levels: it was developed and drafted at the initiative of Chairman Wheeler’s predecessor, Mignon Clyburn; it is deregulatory; it has generated strong bipartisan support and no serious opposition; and it will profoundly impact two key administration goals: attracting foreign direct investment ... and enhancing access to capital for minority entrepreneurs in media and telecommunications."

Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld said on the group’s blog Wheeler has made some good moves so far naming staff to top posts, including Gigi Sohn, who left the presidency of PK to join the FCC. “Critically, none of the people named by Wheeler in his first staff announcements need time to get up to speed on the issues,” Feld said (http://bit.ly/18sKDlp). PK had high hopes for the new chairman, he said. “We wanted someone comfortable with the FCC’s role as a regulator charged with championing the public interest and protecting consumers, someone who understands the role of Congress and who would enhance the overall transparency of how the FCC does business,” he wrote. “Most importantly, we wanted someone who would dig right in and get things done -- because we have a lot of things that need to get done."

"I suspect what we've begun to see at this early stage and will continue to see in weeks and months ahead is new Chairman Tom Wheeler’s early articulation of ‘The Vision Thing,'” said Jeff Silva with Medley Global Advisors. “In effect, he appears in part to be setting the table for what lies ahead both in terms of style and substance without showing his cards at the moment. My guess is Wheeler will have a very animated presence as FCC chairman, one who will not be shy about engaging friend and foe alike in pursuit of his policy goals.” But policymaking is a “day-to-day grind,” Silva said. “When all is said and done, Wheeler will be judged on policies pursued, adopted or even abandoned under his stewardship,” he said. “The success or failure of policymaking can turn on process as well as personality. The ability to work effectively with the other commissioners, lawmakers, industry and other stakeholders could go a long way to determining to what extent Wheeler can advance his agenda and achieve his vision. The chairmanship is more marathon than sprint."

Several communications attorneys said it’s still too early to know how Wheeler’s regime will go, but his early moves in office demonstrate thorough preparation. The speed with which Wheeler has selected staff, reached out to industry movers and shakers and prepared for his first agenda meeting “seem like everything an incoming chairman should be doing,” said one longtime cable attorney, saying previous chairs have generally taken longer to “ramp up.” Wheeler “seems to be saying all the right things,” said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Donald Evans. “He’s generating a lot of energy,” Evans said, referring to a speech Wheeler gave to FCC staff. Evans said Wheeler’s time running the NCTA has given him experience running large organizations that past chairmen may not have had. Although other incoming chairs have given pep talks to their staff and promised an open door policy, as Wheeler has, his actions seem different because he isn’t perceived to be angling for another job after his chairmanship, said one communications attorney: “He’s more credible.”(hbuskirk@warren-news.com),