McDowell lands FCC nod
White House announces nom for commish vacancy
If approved by the Senate, McDowell would finally give agency chairman Kevin J. Martin a 3-2 GOP majority, which has been absent since Martin took over the top job last March.
Nomination has an all-in-the-family ring to it. McDowell is senior VP-general counsel for the telecom association CompTel, which is headed by Earl Comstock, once a contender for the same job and a former aide to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Stevens -- chairman of the Senate committee that oversees the FCC -- suggested McDowell to the White House as a candidate after Comstock withdrew from consideration.
McDowell also worked on George W. Bush's 2000 election campaign, as did Martin.
"Rob McDowell will be a great asset to the commission," Martin said in a statement. "He has a wealth of knowledge in the communications arena."
But McDowell has also been critical of the FCC under Martin.
Democratic commissioner Jonathan Adelstein welcomed McDowell's nomination, saying in a statement, "Robert has a great deal of experience in the field of telecommunications that should be of great value to all of us at the commission."
The more ambitious aspects of Martin's agenda -- such as a review of media ownership rules -- has been thwarted by a 2-2 divide between Republican and Democratic commissioners. The White House announced McDowell's nomination on Friday.
