President Obama on Wednesday will nominate telecom industry lobbyist Tom Wheeler to head the Federal Communications Commission and Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) to be the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the White House said.<\/p>\n
Wheeler, a venture capital investor and friend of Obama\u2019s, would take over an agency struggling to keep up with enormous changes in the telecom industry as consumers turn to mobile devices and ultra-fast broadband Internet for news, communications and video entertainment.<\/p>\n
Watt would be the first permanent director in nearly four years for the obscure but powerful housing regulator that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants that were bailed out by taxpayers in 2008 and today control more than half of the mortgage market. Fannie and Freddie wield great power over who gets a loan and at what cost \u2014 and, for struggling borrowers, who gets relief.<\/p>\n
To the dismay of some critics, Wheeler comes with deep ties to the nation\u2019s biggest telecom lobbying groups. He has served as head of the wireless industry\u2019s CTIA trade group and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, among the most powerful and deep-pocketed lobbying groups in Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am skeptical that the former chief lobbyist of the wireless and cable industries will be capable of holding his former clients accountable for their ongoing shortcomings,\u201d said Sascha Meinrath, head of the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation think tank.<\/p>\n
Wheeler sits on the board of EarthLink, and his investment firm, Core Capital Partners, has invested in wireless equipment and data center technology firms.<\/p>\n