The big three telecommunications giants and their lobbyists have raised and donated millions of dollars for McCain.
“More than 60 present and former telecom lobbyists work for McCain’s campaign as staffers and volunteers…”
With McCain on their side, the Bells wound up escaping the stringent sanctions of a 1982 federal court antitrust case that broke up AT&T — then known as “Ma Bell” — and the curbs of the 1996 law. They now dominate local and long-distance phone markets.
McCain opposed the 1996 Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act, intended to spur competition by pressuring the Bells to lease their lines and switches to competitors cheaply….
As chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee from 1997 to 2004, he proposed legislation and sent tough letters aimed at hindering the Federal Communications Commission… the Clinton-era FCC stood its ground in court.
Known for freezing competitors out, McCain’s ally on the FCC, Chairman Michael Powell, is now a McCain campaign adviser.
McCain is “an extreme market deregulator” who’s never recognized the need for “fair access to the monopoly market.”
“He has gotten too close to the lobbyists for industries over which he has had regulatory power. Trust-buster Teddy Roosevelt — whom McCain calls a hero — would be rolling in his grave.” McClatchy Newspapers