Rick Boucher Should Disclose His AT&T Ties
For nearly 30 years, Rick Boucher represented the people of Southwest Virginia in Congress with distinction. I personally was disappointed that he was defeated for re-election in 2010. Mr. Boucher has a keen understanding of many of the complex public policy issues in telecommunications. He was fantastic at forging compromises among his fellow Members of Congress. People on the Hill, even when they disagreed with him, liked him. I sure do. He was the kind of Congressman who most closely represented my personal views.
When he was defeated, Boucher became a lobbyist for Sidley Austin. "Sidley offers a truly unique opportunity for me to promote the growth of a public policy group that brings together lawyers renowned for their leadership in areas I have focused on for much of my career, such as technology, telecommunications, life sciences, financial services, energy and the environment,” said Mr. Boucher in a news release announcing his new job in May last year.
Sidley Austin is one of the most respected law firms and lobbying firms in Washington, D.C. The folks at Sidley proudly tout their work on behalf of AT&T -- they've represented AT&T and its predecessors for more than a century. There's an entire page on Sidley's website about its work for AT&T.
I have absolutely no problem with any of that.
But I am disappointed that Mr. Boucher continues to publicly advocate for AT&T's public policy positions without disclosing that he is now an AT&T lobbyist.
Throughout the fight over AT&T's failed bid to acquire T-Mobile, Mr. Boucher gave dozens of interviews and penned dozens of opeds claiming that the proposed T-Mobile takeover would benefit rural America. Never once did he disclose his new relationship with AT&T.
Usually, Mr. Boucher would describe himself as the chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance. Never once were readers told that IIA is largely funded by AT&T and the other large landline phone companies.
Mr. Boucher, were he still in office, may very well have advocated for AT&T's failed merger with T-Mobile. He also may have advocated for AT&T's public policy positions on spectrum and other issues. I would like to think so.
At least when he was in office, voters knew that AT&T was his third largest campaign contributor. That was fully disclosed and voters could decide for themselves the significance of AT&T's donations to his campaign.
But now that he is a lobbyist, he doesn't have to disclose his relationship to opinion page editors. He should though. I don't know one editor who wouldn't find that relevant and worth sharing with readers.
Disclosure in politics is important. Even though this is my personal blog and the views I present here aren't necessarily those of my employer, I think it's important for you to know I work for Sprint. That's why I disclose that on this blog and elsewhere online.
Mr. Boucher should do the same. Doing so would be consistent with his reputation he earned over many years of public service.
