The long-awaited nomination hearing of Julius Genachowski for chairman of the FCC has been postponed from its scheduled May 12 date.
The hearing had only been scheduled since Wednesday.
No reason was given beyond an e-mailed statement: "It has been agreed on a bipartisan basis to postpone the hearing until just after the Memorial Day recess. Further details to be announced.”
According to sources, Republican congressional leaders have indicated that Genachowski's nomination and that of South Carolina utility regulator Mignon Clyburn would need to be paired with Republican nominees before they could be installed so that the commission would have the requisite complement of Republicans. But Republicans have apparently yet to offer up their candidate, though there was word that a Republican nomination might be coming down any day.
Scheduling the hearing before the Memorial Day break may have been an effort by Democrats to force the Republican's hand and get the process moving.
Leading candidates for the Republican seat, possibly two seats if Robert McDowell is not re-nominated, include Meredith Attwell Baker, former head of NTIA; FCC deputy general counsel Ajit Pai, and Lee Carosi Dunn, a communications adviser to Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.).
