May 01, 2009, 10:50 AM — President Barack Obama said Thursday he plans to nominate Mignon Clyburn, a member of the Public Service Commission of South Carolina, to fill a seat on the Federal Communications Commission.
Clyburn has served on South Carolina's PSC, which regulates the state's public utilities including telecommunications, since 1998. She is also the chairwoman of the Washington Action Committee of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
If confirmed, she'll replace Jonathan Adelstein and likely be the final Democrat on the board. The five-member commission can't include more than three members of one party. Obama has already nominated Julius Genachowski to be the FCC's chairman. If Clyburn and Genachowski are confirmed, they'll join Democrat Michael Copps, who continues to serve his term.
Republican Robert McDowell also remains on the commission, and there is an additional seat for another member of his party.
All three sitting members of the FCC issued statements congratulating Clyburn, who had been rumored for a few months to be under consideration for the job.
Clyburn spent 14 years as the publisher and general manager of the Coastal Times, a weekly newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, before joining the PSC. She is the daughter of Representative James Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina who is also the House majority whip.
Verizon issued a statement calling her "a well-qualified candidate" and said it looked forward to working with her to "achieve the full potential and benefits of broadband."
