This is tangentially movie-related, but I felt it deserved some attention. The rabid FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin is under investigation for misconduct, according to Variety.
Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), head of the House Commerce Committee, sent Martin a letter Monday stating: "Given several events and proceedings over the past year, I am rapidly losing confidence that the commission has been conducting its affairs in an appropriate manner.
"While this is certainly not true for every commission proceeding, a trend appears to be emerging of short-circuiting procedural norms, suggesting a larger breakdown at the agency."
The move is unusual, but offers more proof that the Democrat-controlled Congress is ratcheting up its pressure on Martin -- and insiders say it's only going to get more intense.
Dingell asked for responses to questions raised in large part by allegations sent to one of his colleagues, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who chairs the Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
"I have received several complaints from the public and professionals within the communications industry about how chairman Martin is conducting business at the FCC," Stupak said in a statement. "It is one thing to be an aggressive leader, but many of the allegations indicate possible abuse of power and an attempt to intentionally keep fellow commissioners in the dark."
Last week, Martin presided over a rancorous commission meeting in which two commissioners -- one a fellow Republican -- accused the chairman of suppressing data that contradicted his policy objectives for the cable TV industry. Martin denied the charges.
Earlier last month, Martin announced a plan to relax the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban subject to conditions.
Members of both parties in Congress criticized Martin's cable policy objectives; both media companies and consumer groups attacked the cross-ownership plan.
