I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Major corporations are spending millions of dollars to influence Congress as Congress works to rewrite telecommunication rules that affect consumer Internet service.
Internet service providers and groups that want more control over who has access to faster service, including AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the US Telecom Association, spent $20.6 million in the 1st quarter of 2010. Companies including Google and Microsoft, which have a vested interest in equal access for consumers, spent $2.1 million on lobbying in the same time period.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation and the House Committee on Energy & Commerce are all holding a second meeting with industry and consumer organizations today.
The Independent reported earlier this week on the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to increase regulation of the industry.
The news on the lobbying isn’t just about the money that is being spent — many of the high powered lobbyists recruited to the cause have previous governmental experience.
The Sunlight Foundation, reporting on data from lobbyists data disclosure forms and date from the Center for Responsive Politics, notes that The Breaux Lott Leadership Group, run by conservative former Senators John Breaux and Trent Lott, spent $150,000 lobbying on behalf of AT&T.
“Former Sen. Don Nickles, hired to lobby for Comcast, was the Republican Majority Whip from 1996 to 2001,” the Sunlight Foundation reported. “Comcast also hired the former House Majority Whip William H. Gray.”
Why the sudden interest in lobbying Congress from these companies? The Hill, when reporting on a letter sent by progressives to Obama urging he reaffirm his commitment to net neutrality, wrote:
at least four separate, simultaneous processes seek to find a solution on net neutrality, including private talks on the Hill, private stakeholder meetings at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a rulemaking procedure at the FCC, and weekly sessions on Capitol Hill among more than 30 stakeholders led by the commerce committees.
