D.C. Memo: Wax in the Race to Replace Simington at FCC – Source
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FCC: It could take the White House some time to decide on a GOP replacement for FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, who resigned Friday. Simington is backing Gavin Wax for the job in a contest featuring many prominent names, including, but not limited to, FCC General Counsel Adam Candeub; Kate O’Connor Harper, Republican Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and Robin Colwell, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. Wax is a totally new face, a GOP political operative from New York who joined Simington’s office only in April as Chief of Staff, just a few months after becoming a first-time father. “Wax’s candidacy is very much real, and he's considered a top contender for the spot,” said a close source to the FCC. Wax, 31, is married, lives in the D.C. area, and wasn’t remoting into his FCC job. With Simington’s departure, Wax is expected to exit the agency soon. If Trump were to nominate Wax, the nominee would need the support of Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas). His confirmation, if it happens, is many months away. GOP FCC nominee Olivia Trusty, whose name was submitted to the Senate by the White House on Feb. 11, continues to wait for the Senate to act. If Wax knew he would be in the running for the key FCC post, he wasn't afraid to use his brief time at the FCC to attach his name to a few industry-splitting ideas, such as regulating YouTube TV and capping how much revenue the Big Four TV broadcast networks can demand from their affiliates. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has said the Big Four’s financial dominance of their affiliates might be so severe, it could implicate the agency’s ownership attribution rules. Wax’s confirmation by the Senate would land a MAGA loyalist at the center of the U.S. communications sector, helping direct the future of the wireless, broadcasting, broadband industries — and examine the impact of artificial intelligence on all of them. “He is certainly unconventional, but these are unconventional times,” the FCC source said. “This is an unconventional administration. This is an unconventional president looking for outsiders to shake up letter agencies across the Beltway.”
