The Regional Bells have long donated to and commanded support from the Republican Party. Short of eliminating the FCC, the agenda of the regional Bells is to ensure they will be treated well by any new commissioners and the new Chairman. The new Chairman's stated views and the slant of the transition team for the agency augurs tender loving care for the Baby Bells. Visiting the Progress and Freedom Web site is enough to see that the advice Eisenach is more than likely giving the incoming Chairman parallels the positions of the ILEC constituency. Certainly Mr. Eisenach will be giving his opinion, as well, on who should fill the vacant seat on the Commission.
Major lobbyists know how the game is played in Washington.
The way to make sure you know on which side your bread is buttered is to butter both sides. More litigation will ensue as competitive carriers try to wrest local loops from recalcitrant incumbents. The issue of whether structural separation or some other method for ensuring open, fair, and efficient provisioning may have to be decided in the U.S. court system. The only way any buyer can tell if the deal is fair is if all the elements are there for everyone to see. If the Bells do not have to live up to any higher standard of cooperation than they have in New York, and if the FCC is not pushing them to do so, the CLEC community will soon have more lawyers than engineers.