Chief of Staff a Key Role to Fill for Remainder of Genachowski Chairmanship

Lazarus has played a major role in most of the big policy calls under Genachowski, from the approval of net neutrality rules last December, to the rejection of AT&T/T-Mobile and the Universal Service Fund reform order approved by the commission Oct. 27, industry and agency officials agree.

Genachowski has not named a replacement and may not for several more weeks. The most likely choice is someone within the FCC, officials said. Rick Kaplan, a former senior aide to the chairman and current Wireless Bureau chief, is seen by many observers as the front runner. Kaplan also served as chief of staff to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. Another possible choice is current Genachowski aide Zac Katz, who took Kaplan’s job when he was sent to the Wireless Bureau in June. It is unlikely Genachowski would tap someone not already at the FCC because of all the clearance delays an outsider would face, officials said.

Other recent chairmen who dealt with a similar departure have reached within the agency for a replacement. In August 2003 when Marsha MacBride left as chief of staff to Michael Powell, she was replaced by Bryan Tramont, then a senior adviser to the chairman. In October 1998, when John Nakahata left as chief of staff to William Kennard, he replaced him with Kathy Brown, then chief of the Common Carrier Bureau.

A former FCC official said Kaplan seems the likely choice, especially since he is close to Genachowski. “This job under Julius is more of a side kick,” the lawyer said. “Under some chairmen, it’s been an efficiency expert, like [Mark] Fowler had Jerry Fritz, who was an efficiency expert, who moved the paper, kept things rolling. I see this job more as his consigliere, his trusted adviser.” Lazarus played a key role for Genachowski, even making speeches in his absence at various events. “Eddie was really accessible. He would see a lot of people that the chairman just wouldn’t have time to see or didn’t want to see. He was a very effective chief of staff under the Julius system,” the lawyer said.

"For any chairman, including Genachowski, the chairman’s chief of staff has to be someone with whom the chairman has a very good, solid working relationship,” said Brian Fontes, FCC chief of staff when James Quello was acting chairman. “It has to be someone who the chairman can trust. It has to be somebody who will represent the chairman well both within and outside the agency, who represents the chairman in discussions with bureaus leadership, with the FCC staff in general and with commissioners and their staff.” The chief of staff has to be good at assessing the FCC’s processes and open to new processes for the betterment of the agency’s processes, he said. Fontes established a PCS “coffee klatch,” a weekly meeting of officials from across the agency responsible for developing the PCS rules. Modifications were made to the circulation process and other procedures that affected the staff and the public who deals with the commission, Fontes said. “It’s one of the most interesting, challenging and rewarding positions at the agency."

Nakahata told us the position changes from chairman to chairman. Most turn to someone they already know extremely well for the job, he said. “It has to be someone the chairman trusts implicitly and is capable of having a very, very close working relationship” with, he said. “They have to know that this person is watching their back. … You're kind of the top person anybody can see who is not the chairman and you almost inevitably end up with sort of a surrogate role as well as whatever else the chairman wants you to do.”

"In this highly charged partisan atmosphere, one in which this FCC chairman finds himself with a big target on his back because of actions offensive to Republicans, there is no more important person to Julius Genachowski than his chief of staff,” said Jeff Silva, analyst at Medley Global Advisors. “That person is the chairman’s eyes, ears, body armor and confidante with license to speak brutally honest about things that matter most. It’s a very difficult job that requires a unique skill set. There will be good days and bad days for any FCC chairman, but political survival is not a given. A good chief of staff helps keep political survival viable and protects against potential collateral damage to the party in general and the White House in particular."

"The role of chief of staff is very flexible, depending on who is the chairman,” said Public Knowledge Legal Director Harold Feld. “Genachowski has used Eddie very effectively as a proxy and screen while he remains above the fray until he is ready to make a decision. But this sort of role is only possible where there is a high level of familiarity and a high level of trust."

Free State Foundation President Randolph May said ultimately the chairman himself determines how well the FCC functions. “But an able chief of staff is certainly crucial to moving the chairman’s agenda forward and to just making sure the agency executes its basic ongoing functions,” he said. “The key to doing the job well, of course, is to prioritize and coordinate the work of the staff, while at the same time coordinating with the other commissioners. This is more a matter of process than substance. But it impacts substance because the commission reaches better decisions when a collegial environment prevails among commissioners and staff, and among the Chairman and the other commissioners. Therefore, the way the chief of staff manages the agency’s internal process matters a lot.”