Well here’s a shocker, frm Marilyn Geewax at the Austin Statesman. Lobbyists are writing the bill in secret, in conference committee. Megolomaniac AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre doesn’t like it when the public gets involved in lawmaking.

No one should waste much time watching the floor debates on C-SPAN. The lawmakers admit their goal is not to pass definitive legislation in public in the coming weeks.

Instead, they want to pass separate bills, regardless of how different they may be. The final version would be negotiated, largely in private, by about a dozen senators and representatives on a conference committee.

The Senate just needs to pass “anything to get us into conference,” where the real decisions will be made, House telecommunications subcommittee chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said Tuesday at a telecom forum hosted by National Journal’s Technology Daily.

I can’t say I’m surprised. These guys have always had contempt for the public.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 8th, 2006 at 11:09 am and is filed under Uncategorized.-->