ScottNaturals

How does President Obama justify having appointed Tom Wheeler, a former telecom lobbyist and obvious conflict of interest with his platform of protecting Internet freedom and Net Neutrality?

While I am disappointed with your vague and generally evasive answers I can understand that you are limited in what you can say (perhaps an AMA isn't the ideal forum for a person in your position). That said I do appreciate your efforts to communicate directly with the public, perhaps you can tell us what it is you hope to achieve with this AMA, what information can you share with us that we don't already know from the President's announcement or a quick Google search of how the FCC works?

FCC commissioner is a tough position to fill because of how much money is involved and the amount of technical and bureaucratic knowledge required.

I won't pretend to know much about the requirements but Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel seem like two better alternatives for Chair even if Tom Wheeler makes a good choice for FCC commissioner.

I'm not sure how much that changes anything, since you're unlikely to get a radically different mindset from one of the other 4 members on the commission vs. Wheeler.

"In particular, both Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, the two other Democrats on the five-person board, spoke out eloquently in official statements on Thursday, criticizing Wheeler’s proposal for authorizing fast lanes and being a “network neutrality” rule in name only. Either Clyburn or Rosenworcel could take over the agency, scrap Wheeler’s plan in favor of an alternative and move quickly to ensure an open Internet, thereby fulfilling the cornerstone of the Obama campaign’s tech agenda after the four-month comment period."

and

"Fourth, the other two Democratic commissioners, either of whom could potentially replace Wheeler, not only seem committed to network neutrality and the rest of the Obama tech agenda, but also have the courage and competence to follow through. Even though it is somewhat unusual for commissioners in the chairman’s own party to buck his will, both Clyburn and Rosenworcel have bravely done so on this issue. The first day after the Wheeler proposal first leaked, both tweeted in favor of an open Internet for the benefit of girls in STEM education. Two weeks later, in a speech to the American Library Association, Rosenworcel called on Wheeler to delay consideration of his proposal and to listen to the concerns of the public, the business community and civil society. On the FCC blog, Clyburn catalogued all of her previous statements that clash with the chairman’s proposal. Plus, both Clyburn’s and Rosenworcel’s statements on Thursday were unequivocal and reflected candidate Obama’s strong support for real, not sham, network neutrality. Either woman would make a far better chair than Wheeler in terms of substance, credibility and responsiveness to the public. After all, neither of them was the top lobbyist for the industries they are now regulating." -Both from article, which provides links such as these: Official statements from Clyburn and Rosenworcel

"But the president (and everyone else) seems to be overlooking one power he does have: the authority to remove Wheeler from the chairmanship, promoting another commissioner to that spot and leaving Wheeler as one of the other four commissioners." -From the article