Revolving Door: FCC Commissioner Votes For Comcast/NBC Merger And, Four Months Later, Given Position As Senior Vice President in Comcast-NBC

Critics are charging this week that Federal Communications Commissioner Meredith Baker has given this swamp-based city another glaring example of how to turn public service into personal gain. Just four months after voting to allow the merger between Comcast and NBC Universal, she has been given a high-paid job as senior vice president of governmental affairs by . . . you guessed it . . . Comcast-NBC.

The revolving door hire reminds many of the hiring of Billy Tauzin by the Pharmaceutical Industry after, as chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Tauzin pushed through landmark Medicare Act of 2003 loaded up with billions of dollars of windfalls for the industry. At least Tauzin waited ten months. The industry proceeded to hire a host of staffers and members who secured the legislation.

Baker, a Republican, joined the FCC in 2009 under President George W. Bush. In a statement, the company’s Washington office president, Kyle McSlarrow, said, “Meredith’s executive branch and business experience along with her exceptional relationships in Washington bring Comcast and NBCUniversal the perfect combination of skills.” By the way, McSlarrow is a Republican activist who served as the national chair of the Dan Quayle for presidential campaign and ran for Congress himself, unsuccessfully. “Those exceptional relationships in Washington” is precisely the problem being raised by this profitable shift to Comcast-NBC.

Source: Washington Post