Tristani Reported Leaving FCC by Year's End
NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 23, 2001--FCC member Gloria Tristani reportedly will join three present and former colleagues in exiting the Commission. According to Dow Jones Newswires, Tristani will leave the FCC by the end of the year, possibly to pursue elective office in her home state of New Mexico. It's said that Tristani has her eye on either a seat in Congress or the New Mexico governorship.
Nominated to the Commission by President Clinton, Tristani joined the FCC in 1997. Her term expires June 30, 2003.
Tristani, a Democrat, joins former FCC Chairman William Kennard--who left the FCC January 19 and was replaced by Commissioner Michael Powell--and commissioners Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a Republican, and Susan Ness, a Democrat, who plan to leave but remain on the FCC for now. Neither Tristani nor Ness have formally announced their intended departures from the FCC, but Furchtgott-Roth did make his intentions public.
While on the FCC, Tristani headed the FCC's V-Chip Task Force. The V-Chip, now required in TV sets with screens 13 inches or larger, allows parents to block television programming that they believe may be harmful to their children.
Prior to coming to the FCC, Tristani served on New Mexico State Corporation Commission, the first woman to do so. She chaired the Corporation Commission in 1996. Earlier in her career, Tristani was an attorney in private practice in Albuquerque. Hispanic Business Magazine named Tristani as one of the nation's most influential Hispanics in 1998 and 1996.
Only three of the five FCC members may be of the same political party. Commissioners serve for five year terms. Some of the names being circulated to replace the outgoing commissioners include Michael Copps, a former chief of staff to Sen Fritz Hollings; Andy Levin, an aide to Rep John Dingell, telecommunications attorney Kathleen Abernathy, Intel Corporation lobbyist Peter Pitsch, a former FCC chief of staff, and Texas Public Utility Commissioner Pat Wood.
Page last modified: 08:43 AM, 23 Feb 2001 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
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