Martin
In a polite but firmly worded letter, a powerful House committee has informed Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin that he has two weeks to turn over a truckload of information and documents that lawmakers say are needed for an ongoing investigation into Martin’s management practices and decisionmaking processes.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee letter also requested that Martin provide a copy of the missive to “each and every employee and contractor that works at FCC headquarters and satellite offices” so that they can provide information to the committee anonymously if they wish.
Information sought by the committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee included “all email communication (and attachments), memoranda, electronic and handwritten notes, records of telephone conversations, talking points and meeting schedules since January 2005” on a dozen matters.
Among those matters: FCC policy on employees’ talking to each other and persons outside the agency; personnel reassignments; delays in any FCC operations; and decisions regarding any number of reports the FCC prepared.
In the extensive letter, the committee also demanded the “complete, unredacted” file concerning an internal FCC investigation into whether certain reports contradicting official policy were suppressed. (The report concluded none had been.)
In addition, the committee said it wants details of all new hires since March 2005 as well as the individual meeting skeds and travel records for Martin and the four commissioners.
The investigation, announced late last year, resulted from complaints the House committee had been receiving about Martin’s stewardship.
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