**STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS**

**ON CHAIRMAN KEVIN MARTIN'S ANNOUNCED DEPARTURE**

**JANUARY 15, 2009**

Kevin Martin's announcement of his imminent departure from the FCC is
historic for the institution and poignant for me, personally.

Kevin and I arrived at the Commission almost simultaneously. We went
through Senate confirmation together in 2001, but because someone over
at The White House screwed up his paperwork, I got the seniority edge on
him by a few days---but he trumped that a few years later by becoming
Chairman. We were different ages, had different backgrounds, different
political affiliations and sometimes very different underlying ideas
about how best to serve the public interest. But we have been through a
lot together. There were frequent instances when, I am pleased to say,
we were able to find common ground. The now famous---and eventually
infamous---Triennial Review brought us together as we fought for what we
thought Congress meant when it instructed the Commission to encourage
competition in the telephone industry. We developed, early on, a shared
concern over the excesses of violence and family-unfriendly fare on the
broadcast airwaves. We each had a special interest in public safety and
we found common ground on ways to move it to the forefront. I watched
Kevin, as Chairman, put public safety front-and-center here at the
Commission, which is exactly where it long needed to be. His leadership
after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast will surely be
remembered as one of the highlights of his, or any, Chairmanship. We
made progress together on instituting and enforcing Internet Openness
Principles and took first steps down a road toward a network neutrality
regime. We pushed for a more open wireless marketplace. And we pulled
together trying to make the Wilmington, North Carolina DTV transition a
success.

None of this is to paper over our very real differences on many matters
of substance and process, with media consolidation, broadband
competition policy and Commission transparency coming immediately to
mind. But this is not the time or place to revisit things divisive.
Sometimes Kevin confounded Commission-watchers by putting forward very
original ideas that those who didn't know him might never have expected.
This made some folks happy, some unhappy and others occasionally
frantic. But it could also be refreshing. To his credit, his proposals
often challenged his fellow Commissioners to get under the hood and
examine their own assumptions. He compelled us to develop our own ideas
to address the problem at hand. The Rural Health Care Pilot Program was
one such idea and it was, and is, a signal accomplishment of Kevin's
Chairmanship.

I also welcomed his efforts to increase the number of public Commission
hearings around the country on such issues as media ownership and net
neutrality. It's no secret that I would have liked even more such
hearings, but the record is that under Kevin, the Commission ***did***
get out of Washington and hear from the public and from experts on
public policy issues that cried out for such input.

Over the years, Kevin and I had some very candid discussions---with the
bark off, as Lyndon Johnson used to say---as we sought common ground on
contentious matters. We quickly discovered that we could talk candidly,
respect confidences, and, not infrequently, find ways to move the
Commission's business forward. When our discussions did not yield
agreement, we disagreed without ever being disagreeable. When we gave
our word to one another, that word was honored. We understood that we
came to some issues with fundamentally different ideas about what the
Commission ought to be doing and how it ought to be doing it, but we
recognized that each of us believed in our individual approaches, and we
shied away from attributing bad motivation to each other. This didn't
resolve all problems---don't read more into this than I'm saying---but
it allowed us to build a working relationship on a personal level that I
think was helpful.

We should also remember that those High Noon moments at the Commission,
when the cameras pack this room, the media is hanging on every uttered
word and perceived nuance, and everyone is waiting to see who is going
to draw their Colt 45 first, are not the daily norm here. Probably 90
per cent or more of what the Commission decides is decided through
consensus. Our discussions are not duels in the sun, but more often
searches for understanding the facts of a case, the meaning of a
statute, or the arcania of legislative history.

Kevin Martin will hopefully continue to contribute, no matter where he
is, on the issues to which he has devoted so much time and energy at the
FCC. I look forward to his ideas and input and to many opportunities to
talk and work together in the years ahead. He has had a busy time of it
here---first as a staffer, then as Commissioner, and finally as
Chairman. He works long, he works hard and he brings keen and creative
intelligence to whatever he does. I imagine these have been very
demanding years for Kevin and Cathie and their two---soon to be
three---children. The prospect of having at least a little more relaxed
pace must look very attractive to them. Beth and I certainly wish Kevin
and his growing family all good things on the road ahead, and we look
forward to continuing the friendship that we have developed. I thank him
for his many kindnesses and courtesies to me, for his kind words today,
and for the friendship we will continue to enjoy in the years ahead.