Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said Friday that he would block Jonathan
Adelstein's nomination to serve on the Federal Communications Commission in
response to Senate Democrats for killing a Mississippi ally's federal appellate
judgeship.
Adelstein is an aide to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).
President Bush said he intended to nominate Adelstein to fill a Democratic seat
at the FCC, but the nomination has not arrived at the Senate, a Daschle aide
said Friday.
According to the Associated Press, Lott said Adelstein is 'relatively young'
and lacked the experience to serve on the commission.
Adelstein, 39, is older than Republican FCC chairman Michael Powell, who is
38 and who joined the FCC in 1997 when he was 34. Adelstein is also older than
Republican commissioner Kevin Martin, who is 35.
Lott is upset over the defeat of U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering of
Mississippi, who was nominated by Bush to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Fifth Circuit.
Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee refused to advance his nomination
to the full Senate after raising questions about Pickering's conduct on the
bench.
The rejection stung Lott, who considers Pickering an old friend. Pickering's
son, Chip, worked for Lott in the Senate before winning a House seat in
Mississippi in 1996.
