Wheeler Pokes Fun at White House, Broadcasters, at FCBA Chairman's Dinner
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler poked fun at his fellow commissioners and the White House’s decision to weigh in hard on net neutrality, in comments at the FCBA Chairman’s Dinner Thursday. Wheeler noted that staff at the Washington Hilton wanted to…
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clear the room by 10 p.m. and told him he should keep his remarks short. “I told them I lead an independent agency and nobody tells us what to do,” he said. Referring again to net neutrality, Wheeler joked that his initial remarks had been drafted by Mozilla, with edits from President Barack Obama. Wheeler recalled his first dinner last year came briefly after he started as chairman. “I was being pilloried by all sides in Congress for my cellphones on planes policy,” he said: “I think of that controversy as the good old days.” Republicans in Congress profess a belief in limited government, he joked: “I hope they’re going to exercise that when it comes to oversight hearings.” Comcast, Verizon and, especially, broadcasters all came in for Wheeler barbs. Three different times, Wheeler made fun of localism, showing TV reporters delivering virtually the same lines in different markets. He took a shot at NAB General Counsel Rick Kaplan, former chief of the Wireless Bureau. “There’s a former FCC staffer, who you all know, who helped design the incentive auction while he was at the FCC, and now it’s the worst idea he’s ever heard,” Wheeler said. Kaplan fired back on Twitter. Wheeler’s “localism bit would have been funny (1x) if he didn't actually believe the caricature,” Kaplan tweeted.