Republican FCC Commissioner Joins Comcast After Voting In Favor Of Merger

Brent Lang & Tim Kenneally wrote the following for The Wrap:

A mere four months after voting in favor of Comcast's controversial $13.75 billion purchase of NBC-Universal, Meredith Attwell Baker, the Republican commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, has decided to step down to take a top government affairs job at Comcast.

Good government watchdogs and bloggers can commence finger wagging, because Baker was one of four commissioners who endorsed the deal.

Moreover, not only did Baker give her approval, but as Ars Technica reports, she vigorously opposed any efforts to impose restrictions on the deal, noting the marriage would "bring exciting benefits to consumers that outweigh potential harms."

For months leading up to the FCC's approval, consumer advocacy groups, lawmakers and rivals had argued that the merger would give Comcast disproportionate control of the media landscape.

Also of interest, is the fact that Baker did not wait until her term expired in June to announce her exit. Many commissioners leave the FCC to resume or take on work as Washington rainmakers or corporate executives, but they usually wait until their term has expired to make their plans known.

Prior to Wednesday's announcement, Baker was expected to be re-nominated to the post. Instead, her resignation will take effect on June 3.

I understand this is somewhat old news but after browsing some old headlines I thought this story needed just a little bit more attention.  Can you imagine if this was a Democrat?  Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Fox News, and the rest of them would be claiming some big government corruption going on.  Now that this story has been out for a while I have noticed something - conservative media had spent very little time covering this story and when they had they seemed to leave out the Republican part.