In article , "Phil Kane"
writes:

On 27 Mar 2004 08:05:03 GMT, Steve Robeson K4CAP wrote:

Yep, back when the agency was run by technically knowledgeable people
who would have laughed BPL right out the door.

Those days left with Jimmy Carter's administration.

Y'know, you're right.

Until Carter got in, the Chairman was Dick Wiley, an extremely
knowledgeable comm lawyer who could understand things technical
without any problem and knew what the Commission was supposed to do.
Very impressive.

Carter replaced him with Charlie Ferris, Tip O'Neill's bag-carrier,
in a patently political payback. Ferris brought in the economists
and the consumer-ists for top management and policy-setting positions
and the slippery slope started.

Which was recognized by only a few at the time.

In the Reagan-Bush_I years that followed Carter, there were a
succession of lightweight Chairmen epitomized by "Madman Mark"
Fowler, a comm lawyer who couldn't get a significant law partnership
after he was replaced by Reed Hundt - the guy who took the field
apart because he didn't understand what enforcement was all about
and why the agency had to do it - when Clinton got in. Hundt was
followed by Bill Kenard, whose greatest achievement was to make the
spectrum auction system work. Bush_II brought us Michael Powell, the
cheerleader of BPL.

Republicans and Democrats both. Let's see - Carter plus Clinton is 12 years,
Reagan plus Bushes is 16 years. Pretty balanced.

And Jim wonders why I'm embarrassed ??

Not any more.

73 de Jim, N2EY