Wheeler Praises Staff, Laments Set-Tops at Chairman's Dinner
Although FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler didn't say he would step down, his speech at the FCBA Chairman's Dinner Thursday had a farewell atmosphere, as he heaped praise on and cracked jokes about FCC staff, and referred to himself as “the…
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drum major in front of great band.” It is “the band that makes the music,” Wheeler said. The chairman's tributes to his staff were preceded by a joke-filled monologue that targeted numerous communications industry institutions, from the U.S. Copyright office (Wheeler said his set-top plan would be a “job-killer” there) to Communications Daily. “Facebook has been taking a lot of heat for fake news,” Wheeler quipped: “I don't think Comm Daily is that bad.” Wheeler also sprinkled in quips about the “set-top box regime,” which he noted outlasted both the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and the word “cable” in the name of cable's trade association NCTA. Many of Wheeler's jokes concerned the 2016 presidential election, which he referred to as “the elephant in the room ... and the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.” Wheeler called the dinner the “2016 Democratic Job Fair,” and took aim at himself, comparing his selection as chairman to President-elect Donald Trump's win by calling himself a 70-year-old man with no prior government experience and an “inflated sense of self” who is “provoked by criticism into overreacting,” and is known to use “foul language” and “bullying” to get what he wants. Midway through the speech, FCC General Counsel Howard Symons came onstage and spoke with Wheeler, and the chairman said he had been ordered to stick to “noncontroversial“ topics, which is when he switched to praising and joking about his staff. Wheeler called Chief of Staff Ruth Milkman “just the best,” and Senior Aide Phil Verveer “the ambassador of antitrust,” and needled FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp for approving the infamously incendiary Galaxy Note7 phone. He referenced his aide Gigi Sohn's “sharp elbows” and said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc was the only person who had managed “to piss more people off than me.” Being chairman and working with his staff was “the greatest professional honor” of Wheeler's life, he said. At the end of his speech, Wheeler referenced a song from current Broadway hit musical Hamilton, comparing the current environment in the communications industry to a pivotal revolution. “How lucky we are to be alive right now,” Wheeler said, quoting lyrics from the song "The Schuyler Sisters."