Dennis Kucinich: Verizon Sale to be Challenged at FCC, SEC & in Congress

PORTSMOUTH, NH (May 19) -- Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich announced to a cheering crowd of nearly 1,000 labor and community activists from New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont that he would intervene to block Verizon’s sale of its rural telecom business to Fairpoint, thus setting a new stage for a dramatic showdown between unions who are challenging the sale and the nation’s telecommunications industry which has long been immune from significant challenges for its failure to provide rural communities equal access to fiber optic service.

Kucinich, chairman of the Domestic Policy subcommittee of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee of the House of Representatives, announced at Prescott Park on the banks of Portsmouth Harbor, that he would hold a hearing to review Verizon’s sale to Fairpoint.

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Additionally, the Ohio Democrat, whose subcommittee has jurisdiction over the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said he would ask both the FCC and the SEC to closely examine the deal to determine whether or not the agreement between Verizon, the number two telecom company and Fairpoint, the number 15 telecom company was in the public interest.

“Rural communities would be left on the other side of the digital divide. Verizon doesn’t want to serve rural communities in the tri-state and, based on its finances, Fairpoint can’t. This deal doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Kucinich pointed out that Verizon would own 60% of Fairpoint stock and have six of nine members on the Fairpoint board of directors. “This sounds like a deal for Verizon to shed their responsibilities to rural areas and break the unions by spinning off to a company that has had serious financial troubles and a poor track record for protecting jobs and benefits.”

Addressing the concerns of members of the two unions who are spearheading the opposition to the sale, the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers (IBEW) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) who have thousands of jobs on the line, Kucinich said: “We know what deals like this usually mean. They mean less service. They mean cuts in wages. They mean lost jobs. They mean outsourcing. They mean higher utility rates. They mean less freedom, as access to the future of internet is limited to millions of Americans in rural areas. We must not stand for this. We must assert the right of the people to have control over these public utilities. There are legal issues at a state and federal level. There are regulatory issues and there are constitutional issues. And all the issues will be explored.”

Kucinich harkened to his experience of more than thirty years ago, when, as a young Mayor of Cleveland, he began an effort to save the city-owned electric system, Muny Light, from a takeover by the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (CEI), the privately owned utility. The experience he gained in challenging the sale gave him a wealth of experience, he said, to prepare him to be of assistance to the people of New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont who are challenging Verizon’s sale.

Source: Dennis Kucinich