President Biden’s offer to serve as telecoms regulator is withdrawn He was nominated to the Federal Communications Commission after a bitter 16-month lobbying battle that blocked his appointment and exposed him to relentless personal attacks.
Gigi Sohn, a longtime public interest advocate and former Democratic FCC official, was first nominated by the White House in October 2021. He said that the decision to withdraw It follows the “relentless, dishonest and vitriolic attacks” planted by lobbyists from the cable industry and the media. Opposition to Sohn made the relatively low-profile post the focus of an unprecedented fight, which included three Senate confirmation hearings, a series of ads, and a billboard criticizing Sohn as “radical” and “racist.” . .
Sohn’s decision to retire plunges the Biden administration’s ambitious Internet agenda into chaos and continues more than two years of deadlock at the FCC. Biden came into office vowing to deregulate during the Trump administration and restore Obama-era net neutrality protections. But the FCC has stalled on these promises amid a 2-2 split, undermining the administration’s plans.
“It is a sad day for our country and our democracy when dominant industries with the help of unlimited dark money elect their regulators,” Sohn said in a statement shared exclusively with The Washington Post. “With the help of his friends in the Senate, the powerful cable companies and news outlets have done just that.”
The collapse of Son’s nomination is an encouraging sign of the political power of the White House. The administration was unable to unify Democrats behind Son’s nomination in a closely divided Senate. Shortly before Son announced his decision to resign, Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.V.) dealt a heavy blow by announcing that he would vote against him, accusing him of having “partisan alliances with far-left groups.”
“Especially now, the FCC must overcome the toxic discrimination that Americans are sick and tired of, and Ms. Sohn has clearly shown that she is not the right person to do that,” Manchin said in a statement.
Conservative groups spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in partisan and aggressive attacks on Sohn, leading a campaign in many moderate Democratic states that were already undecided on Sohn’s nomination. “Gigi Sohn is too serious for the FCC,” read a billboard in Las Vegas, featuring Sohn’s face and a link to the website of the American Accountability Foundation, a group that opposes Biden’s nominees. AAF and another conservative nonprofit, the Center for a Free Economy, have put more than $200,000 in Facebook ads opposing Chohan.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said during Tuesday’s briefing that the White House has no updates on potential nominees at this time.
“We applaud Gigi Son’s candidacy for this important role,” said Jean-Pierre. “She brings tremendous knowledge and experience to the table, which is why the president nominated her in the first place.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
