Bush Using Political Litmus Test With Telecommunications Industry

by Steve Soto

Here's one way to piss off the telecommunications industry: impose a political litmus test on which industry representatives can attend a meeting held three times a year to talk about service delivery issues throughout the Americas. Unlike past years and once safely past the election, the Bush White House bounced industry representatives off the U. S. delegation if they gave money to John Kerry.

The Inter-American Telecommunication Commission meets three times a year in various cities across the Americas to discuss such dry but important issues as telecommunications standards and spectrum regulations. But for this week's meeting in Guatemala City, politics has barged onto the agenda. At least four of the two dozen or so U.S. delegates selected for the meeting, sources tell TIME, have been bumped by the White House because they supported John Kerry's 2004 campaign.

The State Department has traditionally put together a list of industry representatives for these meetings, and anyone in the U.S. telecom industry who had the requisite expertise and wanted to go was generally given a slot, say past participants. Only after the start of Bush's second term did a political litmus test emerge, industry sources say.

The White House admits proudly that it did this, even though there is no evidence that the Clinton Administration bounced Dole supporters during his second term. And how does the industry feel about this, given that some of our biggest players were targeted for this Nixonian treatment?

Those barred from the trip include employees of Qualcomm and Nokia, two of the largest telecom firms operating in the U.S., as well as Ibiquity, a digital-radio-technology company in Columbia, Md. One nixed participant, who has been to many of these telecom meetings and who wants to remain anonymous, gave just $250 to the Democratic Party. Says Nokia vice president Bill Plummer: "We do not view sending experts to international meetings on telecom issues to be a partisan matter. We would welcome clarification from the White House."

Something tells me the time would be ripe for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, and perhaps even Howard Dean to build a bridge with the telecom industry right about now.

In the case of Qualcomm, I guess the $110,000 they have given the GOP since 2000 wasn’t enough for Rove, given that Qualcomm gave the Democrats $160,500 during that period. But this appears to be a shakedown attempt by the White House to get more money out of Qualcomm in the GOP’s latest “pay for play” approach to government. I’m sure once Qualcomm agrees to pony up large bucks to fund the NRSC and NRCC, Rove will suddenly find seats for Qualcomm to attend.

Remember, to the Bush White House, unquestioning loyalty to George W. Bush always trumps what's good for American business. Where's the outrage from Ann Coulter? You can imagine what bimbo-bitch would be saying if Clinton had done this.