A private ALTS document prepared for a meeting of the association...

dues structure and its lobbying strategy. The document was taken off the website a day later -- but not before a number of corporate attorneys throughout the Washington communications community had seen it. A Bell official said the item “circulated relatively widely” because most corporate regulatory attorneys “do a sweep” of the ex parte filings every day. The mistake happened because a Swidler Berlin Shereff & Friedman lawyer, working for small CLEC Alpheus, filed the ALTS document instead of an Alpheus ex parte in the FCC’s TRO proceeding. An Alpheus official was among those invited to ALTS’ Sept. 28-29 board meeting in Washington. “It’s a warning for all attorneys in town,” said the Bell official. The profiles of FCC commissioners appeared to be the most talked about feature. Among assessments: (1) Comr. Martin “now that he lost the fight on UNE-P, appears to be fighting less hard for CLECs.” (2) Comr. Copps’ “unwillingness to compromise could be problematic,” although he’s a “strong CLEC advocate.” (3) Comr. Adelstein “generally follows Copps’ lead.” (4) Chmn. Powell is likely to support President Bush’s broadband agenda “before the election.” (5) Comr. Abernathy “will follow the lead of the chairman.” Asked about the assessments, an aide to one commissioner said: “No comment. They made a mistake. We're not commenting.” In addition, members of Congress were listed as “positive” or “negative” on CLEC issues. For example, House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) was listed as negative, Sen. Stevens (R-Alaska) as positive. Reflecting the technology bust that started several years ago, the document shows ALTS membership is down to about 1/4 of 1998 levels, and revenue is just slightly above $1 million, compared with about $2.5 million in 2000. Among strategies contemplated by the document, written by ALTS Pres. John Windhausen: (1) Developing an alliance with ISPs by endorsing VoIP deregulation in return for intercarrier compensation support. (2) Seeking an alliance with equipment manufacturers by offering CLEC build-out guarantees in return for support for a stronger UNE policy. (3) “If the debate turns against us” ALTS might consider taking a stronger step by suggesting “an end to UNEs at a specific date in return for strengthening UNE provisioning today.” (4) Another step to consider if ALTS begins losing the debate is opposition to “allowing wireless companies to become ETCs,” a move that might “strengthen an alliance with the rural ILECs in return for their opposition to RBOC legislation.” The paper says that last strategy might “split USTA.” A USTA spokeswoman said this “divide and conquer” strategy is “nothing more than wishful thinking.” USTA’s members are “extremely unified and are focused on working together to help stabilize the Universal Service Fund and bring market- based competition to the telecom industry.” Windhausen said the document was a discussion draft designed to “tee up issues for discussion,” not something approved or reviewed by members. He said he had apologized to officials mentioned in the draft. He said he regretted the “overly simplistic” characterization of officials. “It’s sort of unfair to pigeonhole them,” even in a discussion draft, he said.