So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye to Chairman Powell

“I will miss you dearly. The commission will miss you dearly,” FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy told outgoing Chairman Michael K. Powell at his going away party today.

And so will we.  After all, as we've written before, here, Powell MADE the media reform movement.  In 1998, he commented that after he was sworn in as an FCC Commissioner, "I waited for a visit from the angel of the public interest. I waited all night, but she did not come."  And during his entire tenure at the FCC, Powell sat waiting, waiting, waiting for the public interest angel to visit him, when what he should have been doing all along was going outside the Beltway to visit the public and find that elusive ol' angel -- that is, in those few moments available to him between his industry-paid appearances before industry groups (a practice since stopped after being revealed by the Center for Public Integrity).

One of our great thrills was a late Friday call from Chairman Powell himself, objecting to an op-ed we'd written.  After we jousted verbally with him for nearly half an hour, then faxed him three articles documenting our charge, he gamely stuck to his guns, insisting we'd incorrectly said he supported "THE" meeting of the cable and broadcast television industries to work out their differences over digital must-carry, when in fact he'd only supported "A" meeting of the cable and broadcast television industries to work out their differences over digital must-carry.  We conceded the point, marvelling at his carrying on this debate for TWO DAYS to "correct" us on this utter insignificance -- yet he could not find the time to hold more than one public hearing on media ownership, one of the most far-reaching of FCC proceedings.

As an organization that would never have come into existence were it not for Chairman Powell's dissing of the "public interest," we wish the Chairman well in his future endeavors.  And who knows?  It's not just our friends on the religious right who believe in redemption.  Maybe as he takes his well-earned vacation outside the Beltway, that elusive, yet very real, angel of the public interest will come a callin' on Private Citizen Powell.