Founded in 1934, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is one of the most powerful government agencies that precious few Americans understand or even follow.
The FCC regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable across the U.S.
Just think about that scope. The majority of Americans receive and consume information from at least one of those mediums every single day – or even every waking hour.
It should be reasonable to demand that presidentially appointed, U.S. Senate confirmed FCC commissioners not hold radical views well outside the mainstream of America.
For this reason, the U.S. Senate must reject the controversial nomination of Gigi Sohn to the FCC.
There are many reasons why she should be rejected.
Here are several:
FCC Commissioners must not be ideologically biased.
Sohn has a lifetime record of minimizing conservative concerns over online censorship, claiming that "anti-conservative bias on online platforms" was "a bunch of BS." She publicly claimed that Fox News "played their own role in destroying democracy and electing autocrats." She has questioned whether Sinclair Broadcasting "is qualified to have a broadcast license at all," going so far as to publicly urge the FCC to review their license renewal.
Sohn has espoused extreme anti-gun rights views and has insulted both the National Rifle Association and gun owners (estimates suggest at least 80 million Americans own guns).
Her radicalism extends to COVID measures. In November of last year, she liked a tweet claiming anti-mask mandates in North Carolina are akin to genocide.
But most concerning are her anti-law enforcement views, which led to both the 364,000-member Fraternal Order of Police and the 60,000-member National Narcotics Officers’ Associations’ Coalition (NNOAC) to recently write to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee expressing "deep concern" with her nomination, which they "strongly oppose."
Their opposition is rooted in Sohn’s role as an Executive Board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has advocated for "end-to-end encryption" and "user only access." NNOAC argues that "going dark" causes law enforcement to "rapidly lose their capability to access information needed to protect the public from crime, violence and terrorism." Sohn continues to serve on EFF’s board.
FCC Commissioners should not be partisan, and Sohn has repeatedly expressed partisan views against Republicans.
In August 2020, she tweeted that if Trump wins, ‘the only thing protecting our Republic is Democrats taking over the Senate.’
In November 2021, she liked a tweet claiming that "Republicans talking about healing the nation should be an embarrassment to any thinking human being."
In October 2020, she tweeted that "Republicans know that the only way they can win is to suppress the vote."
In November 2021, she liked a tweet that "the only dead Americans the GOP cares about at this point are dead slaveowners."
She has liked tweets attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). She liked a tweet calling for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to resign. She liked a tweet calling Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) a "coward."
If these examples were not enough to raise grave concerns about preexisting bias, she has expressed opposition to Republican members of the FCC.
In May 2020, she liked a tweet that called FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr ‘alt-right’ and another attacking then FCC chairman Ajit Pai.
In 2017, she argued that FCC Chairman Pai should be fired.
I could go on.
After the Senate Commerce Committee refused to advance her nomination in the first congressional session, President Joe Biden renominated Sohn on January 4, daring the Senate to block her again.
Sohn is a radical nominee, clearly unfit for this vital regulatory role.
The Senate should again reject her nomination and demand that the White House nominate a qualified, reasonable nominee to the FCC.
Matt Mackowiak is the president of Potomac Strategy Group, a Republican consultant, a Bush administration and Bush-Cheney re-election campaign veteran and former press secretary to two U.S. senators. His national politics podcast, “Mack on Politics,” may be found on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.