As the transition to the new Obama Administration moves forward, a group of advisors to Public Knowledge are taking on vital roles.
PK Board member Reed Hundt has wide-ranging responsibilities. He is overseeing review of the international trade and economics agencies. Reed is a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), currently an advisor to McKinsey and Company. Reed writes frequently for TPM cafe.
PK Advisory Board member Phil Weiser is working with Reed in the economics sector as co-team leader for the Federal Trade Commission review. Phil is a professor of law at the University of Colorado where he leads the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship.
PK Advisory Board members Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach are heading the transition team looking at the FCC. Susan is a Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, teaching communications law and internet law. Her blog is here.
Kevin is an Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and the organizer of the annual Supernova technology conference. His blog is here.
It would be hard to find a more knowledgeable and capable group to help get the new Administration going in the right directions.
Obama’s transition team
Obama’s transition team supposedly has strict rules about hiring lobbyists. Is the administration aware that they are hiring people who are part of your group, and are therefore lobbyists in the policy areas in which they would be working?
Susan and Kevin are not
Susan and Kevin are not registered lobbyists, and they do not work for Public Knowledge. They are mere advisors who have no fiduciary duty to the organization. There is nothing about the Obama transition rules that bars them from doing transition work or from being affiliated with PK.
Public Knowledge lists them
Public Knowledge lists them as being on their “advisory board,” which makes them part of your group. And Crawford promoted your group’s agenda when she testified before Congress (making false statements when she did so, by the way). These are exactly the sort of lobbying ties and conflicts of interest which the Obama transition team has pledged to root out.