The Schemes and "Confessions" of Reed Hundt

[Commentary] Sorry to say, there are people in public life who, were hubris a lubricant, could forgo ambulation and just glide on down the road. Reed Hundt, the former chairman of the FCC, is one such person. Hundt is back in the news these days because policies he clandestinely pursued while chairman are now thought by some (including Hundt himself) to be coming to fruition at the hands of his former FCC aides and confidantes, one of whom, Julius Genachowski, is now chairman. This, and more, was revealed in a speech Hundt gave last month at Columbia University. The subject of his address was the national broadband plan, then set to be released by the FCC just a week later, and what he characterized as a "confession or admission" of the role he played, years earlier, in using his office as chairman to systematically elevate broadband, at the expense of broadcasting, as the "common medium."

[Patrick Maines is president of The Media Institute, an organization funded by contributions from media and telecom companies.]