No one could have predicted:
Meredith Attwell Baker, one of the two Republican Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, plans to step down—and right into a top lobbying job at Comcast-NBC.
The news, reported this afternoon by the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, and Politico, comes after the hugely controversial merger of Comcast and NBC earlier this year. At the time, Baker objected to FCC attempts to impose conditions on the deal and argued that the “complex and significant transaction” could “bring exciting benefits to consumers that outweigh potential harms.”
Four months after approving the massive transaction, Attwell Baker will take a top DC lobbying job for the new Comcast-NBC entity, according to reports.
No fucking shame whatsoever. They don’t even bother to try to be sly about the pay-offs anymore.
fasteddie9318
I just…I mean…for fuck’s sake, at least pretend not to be a whore, you know?
Was it always like this but these kinds of things slipped under the radar back before the 24 hour news cycle and the like, or has the revolving door actually gotten a lot shorter lately?
Comrade Javamanphil
At least use a hankie to clean up first. Jesus.
Dream On
Wow. Every time I hear a story like this, I’m equally appalled and hopeful. It all seems to get worse and worse, but when the corporate/government world is so brazenly crooked, maybe the arrogance of it all means the tipping point is reached, and good change is coming?
Or maybe we’re just headed for the dumpster of washed-up empire. Sigh.
PeakVT
Bribery in our country is now entirely legal – for the elites. That’s a wee problem.
piratedan
plus they’ll name a network after him, its kind of traditional after that kind of screw job.
Sentient Puddle
Is there not some sort of law against this? Can the FCC not reconvene and say “On second thought, let’s review this merger further”?
Mike in NC
Bastard packed himself quite the golden parachute!
John Cole
Well in fairness to this woman, it is really hard to be more brazen than Billy Tauzin.
Mr Stagger Lee
Allons enfants de la Patrie, A
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie,
L’étendard sanglant est levé, (bis)
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils et vos compagnes
Aux armes, citoyens,
Formez vos bataillons
Marchons, marchons !
Qu’un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons !
Litlebritdifrnt
But what can the common folks do, these type of people are not elected, so we can’t stage a protest with our votes, basically they can do what they want to do and we have no say, none. We are well and truly fucked.
General Stuck
With Citizens United reaching full bloom in the next several years, stuff like this that has gone on for decades in DC will look like child’s play.
Though with any luck, favored corps will grow so fat as powerful, they start forming their own private armies and go to war with other corporations. Or maybe just buy of chunks of the US military, or rent them. None of this namby pamby musical chair bureaucrat door stuff.
A libertarian paradise with automatic weapons. With A new one page constitutional pamphlet, titled Dog Eat Dog, mandating every man, woman, and child for themselves.
Bob Loblaw
It concerns me that 25% of the people posting in this thread have apparently been flummoxed by the name Meredith.
Newsflash: women can be corrupt too…
Dream On
Ironically, the ad on the top left of this page says “Collect 59 Dividend Checks a Month!”
I’ll bet this Comcast lobbyist crook will collect more.
Davis X. Machina
@Mr Stagger Lee: Unfortunately, the US lost what little domestic tumbrel-manufacturing capacity it had back in the ’80’s, when it went offshore.
Ames-Tru Temper closed its West Virginia pitchfork plant in 2002.
And open burning of torches is prohibited in most metropolitan areas because of their role in sub-5 micron particulate emissions.
Les aristos a la badly maintained because of capped property taxes lanterne!
piratedan
@John Cole: my bad JC, completely swung and missed on the gender… still, nice to know that graft isn’t gender specific… I think….
Joe Beese
As ole Jack Burton likes to say…
Son of a bitch must pay.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
well, the internet was fun while it lasted.
this is good news for luke russsert!
piratedan
@Joe Beese: geez some common ground with Joe Beese, hoowoulddathunkit? Obviously Meredith had a little something from the six demon bag, else she wouldn’t be able to do things no one else can do and see things no one else could see…..
Davis X. Machina
Is this the ‘Slutwalk’ I’ve been reading about in the news?
Suffern ACE
@Mr Stagger Lee: Listen bub. Just cause we have one phoney presidential candidate who thinks he is the second coming of Marc Chagall, doesn’t mean we’re all about to speak that hoity-toity Canadian.
WereBear
As a consumer, I’m still waiting for my goodies to arrive.
And…
Uloborus
This kind of stuff is going to be tough to regulate against. You’ll have to write a REALLY good law for it to be remotely fair but still prevent people who have the obvious qualifications for an industry and would naturally seek that line of work from obtaining it from people who they benefited in their last job – since in government, that’s likely to be ‘everybody’.
Somebody still needs to find a damn way.
Will Reks
@Davis X. Machina:
We’re talking about Meredith from The Office, right?
MikeJ
@WereBear:
Move to one of them commie countries, comrade. This here’s an oligarchy.
Captain Goto
Well, if now Olbermann *really* has the kind of “autonomy” that he’s been claiming, his comments about this oughta be priceless…
Captain Goto +1.5
bkny
a comment at gawker says she’s james baker’s daughter in law.
Dave Trowbridge
This would be relatively easy to deal with: pass a law limiting private-sector compensation (including stock options and other non-salary benefits) of former public-sector employees to no more than the highest public-sector compensation they ever received.
Of course, that will never, ever happen.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@PeakVT:
That’s exactly what this is, legal bribery. Two-bit criminals are locked up without hesitation but if you are in the government and pull shit like this then everything is just peachy keen. There should be a five year statute that blocks assholes like her from pulling shit like this, otherwise you just end up with these assholes selling out the American public for personal profit and gain.
Corner Stone
I seem to remember getting tut-tutted here when I asked about Orszag doing this same thing.
johnny walker
Since when is shame a motivating factor? Either there are regulations against this kind of behavior or there aren’t, and as long as we’re willing to play the “Right-wing members of the FCC are uniquely bad on this subject! They should be ashamed!” game then we should count on watching dickheads from both sides of the aisle continue to laugh all the way to the bank.
ie:
@Corner Stone: Uh, hello? Totally different. (Orzsag’s a Democrat.)
Corner Stone
@johnny walker: I was told some dozen variants of, “Well, where would you expect someone with his background to go?”
El Cid
If she’s not convicted of anything and guilty of formal internal ethics violations, how could anything have been done wrong? You people can keep screaming about this, but until some authority that I and other prominent leaders legally or arbitrarily choose says something wrong has been done, clearly nothing wrong has been done. What do all you non-experts think you’re doing talking about such matters?
maya
I have less of a problem with Jim Baker’s daughter-in-law doing this then I do with the congress crooks who will open their doors and allow this ho in to talk business. Which, of course, they will.
arguingwithsignposts
@Corner Stone: It wasn’t just Orzag. It was also Chris Dodd and countless others (cough – Rahm – cough). This is one area where the “both sides do it” thing actually fits.
Elizabelle
She needs to be canned.
Any chance they could look anew at that merger?
This practice (A) stinks and (B) needs to stop. Yesterday.
maus
Why should they? They’ll never be called out on it by the mass media.
DonkeyKong
I think in porn they call this “double penetration.”
Ruckus
Shame, why should there be shame? This is how the game is played. She probably would never think or see this as wrong or corrupt. You build up your political capital, get a cushy job when your side is in power, when you are ready you get a better paying cushier job in the industry that you know. And in her world she sees big companies selling out or buying off for some advantage all the time. Why should she be any different?
I’m not saying I don’t see the problem, just that she probably doesn’t.
burnspbesq
For the record, nothing here provides any evidence of any violation of any law. Not that that has ever mattered to this crowd.
Just Some Fuckhead
@DonkeyKong:
This seems more like ass to mouth.
Ruckus
@burnspbesq:
I think many of us here understand that the law can be an ass, that still doesn’t make it right.
Just Some Fuckhead
Would you agree, Burns? Ass to mouth?
Odie Hugh Manatee
@arguingwithsignposts:
I agree. I don’t care if one or both sides do it, it’s just wrong.
That’s why nothing will ever be done to stop it, both sides approve of it because they both benefit from it.
While everyone else loses.
batgirl
@arguingwithsignposts: you are missing my favorite. the merger of Citi and Travelers, the repeal of Glass Steagall, and Bob Rubin leaving the Clinton administration to be lavishly rewarded by the new Citigroup.
fasteddie9318
@burnspbesq: “legal” != “ethical” or “right”
Dollared
@burnspbesq: Burns baby, have you heard of Darleen Druyun? Here’s the meat of it:
They both went to jail.
You are wrong about no evidence of violation of law. There are two of the three pieces required – a matter of importance before the agency, and a later benefit. With this fact pattern, all it would take is one joint visit to Starbucks to put two people in jail. Any federal investigator would be able review of her emails and meeting calendar, and if anyone was in any way sloppy, people can go to jail.
maus
@burnspbesq:
Everything that is legal is good for this country.
Malron aka eclecticbrotha
All I want to know is…..do we get to replace them with a Democrat?
burnspbesq
@Dollared:
As a former Federal employee, I’ve sat through all of the briefings, and I can say with some degree of confidence that your understanding of how the post-employment restriction laws work is not shared by the people charged with enforcing those laws. I express no opinion as to whether your understanding makes more sense than theirs.
burnspbesq
@maus:
I’m surprised to hear you say that. I thought you knew better.
P.S. I never said that or anything like it.
burnspbesq
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I have no idea what you’re referring to.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq:
Nope. I could quit my job today and go work for TaxMasters or Ronnie Deutch tomorrow perfectly legally. I wouldn’t, because A) I like being able to respect myself and B) my bennies are a shit ton better where I am now. But I could if I wanted.
Church Lady
It’s amazing what absolute whores they all are. Got a job in government? Well, ride in to the gravy train!
I know Cole hates Glenn Reynolds, but Reynold has an idea for handling these type of situations. For people that leave high government jobs for cushy, well-paid ones like this, charge them a 100% surtax on every dollar they make over what their government salary was for the first five years after they leave. Sounds like a winner to me. Doesn’t mean they won’t do it, but it give the taxpayers a little satisfaction.
Ija
@burnspbesq:
This is not SCOTUSblog. People have opinions that are not just based on THE LAW. It might be difficult for a lawyer to understand, being used to think of himself as the center of the universe, but there are things that can be discussed in other ways besides the law, like shame. THE LAW is not god almighty you know.
Not every topic is a discussion about THE LAW. Go comment at SCOTUSblog or Glenn Reynolds’ blog if that is all you care about. I’m fucking sick of THE LAW and the expert lawyers who have been experts for 30 years or whatever shitting over every topic about how everyone else lack their expertise. Lawyers are not god almighty either.
Ija
At this point, I think the lawyers in this blog are wayy, wayy more irritating than the Joe Beese’s of the world. Seriously, we get it already, we are not lawyers, we know nothing and should shut up. You don’t have to keep repeating that in every thread.
Lidia
@Ija: I agree. It’s especially annoying here since the whole point of lobbying is to get to *write* THE LAW.
burnspbesq
@Ija:
There is a solution to your problem, and it doesn’t involve me or any other lawyer who comments here being bullied into silence by some ignorant asshole. It involves pie. Knock yourself out.
Ija
@burnspbesq:
It’s only okay when lawyers are the one bullying people into silence by calling them ignorant asssholes. Not the other way around. You and eemom are really two peas in a pod. You guys should go meet and make out somewhere and talk about the awesomeness of the Roberts court.