A former NTIA figure who in January became a Senior Advisor for International Information and Communications Policy at the U.S. State Department has officially been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as a FCC Commissioner.
For Anna Gomez, the path to being sworn in as the fifth Commissioner and, importantly, third Democrat on the FCC will likely be smoother than the woman Biden previously chose as his nominee.
In September 2020, before it would become known that Sen. Joe Biden would become President Biden, Doug Brake, the Director of Broadband and Spectrum Policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, told S&P Global Market Intelligence unit Kagan that one of two likely nominees for the fifth Commissioner’s chair at the FCC was a telecom attorney who was once acting administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and served for 12 years at the Commission.
She wasn’t Biden’s nominee, and the administration instead selected Gigi Sohn, a polarizing figure who eventually withdrew as a nominee after months of Capitol Hill wrangling between Republicans who were committed to preventing her from being sat at the FCC to Democrats doing whatever they could to make her a Commissioner.
On Monday, Gomez officially said that he intends to nominate Gomez, whose name resurfaced last week after months of discussion among Capitol Hill insiders and pundits as Biden’s new choice.
It’s hardly a surprise — at the 2022 Hispanic Radio Conference, with the likelihood of Sohn’s confirmation as a FCC Commissioner fading, Fletcher Heald & Hildreth attorney Francisco Montero suggested that Gomez would be a top selection of Biden should Sohn’s nomination fail.
Yet, as the new Congressional session began, the White House stuck with Sohn, renominating her in January. Senate Republicans, led by Ted Cruz of Texas, would prove to have much sway over that decision by 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, leading Sohn to end her quest to be sat at the FCC.
Gomez, meanwhile, had been suggested by Hispanic advocacy groups as a logical choice for the fifth FCC Commissioner’s chair, including the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which urged the White House in a March 22 letter to appoint a Latino to the Commission.
Gomez’s name has been bandied about Washington for more than a year. Now, with her nomination on the way, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has expressed her congratulations to Gomez, which brings a second woman to the group of five voting members if she is confirmed by Congress. ” She brings with her a wealth of telecommunications experience, a substantial record of public service, and a history of working to ensure the U.S. stays on the cutting edge of keeping us all connected,” Rosenworcel said of Gomez. “I wish her all the best during the confirmation process.”
FROM LAW CLERK TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT
“I have extensive experience in domestic and international communications law and policy,” she states on her LinkedIn page.
That experience began in 1991, when Gomez took a role as a Law Clerk for the summer at Arnold & Porter. It was a role she held for three years. In 1994, she joined the FCC’s Common Carrier Bureau, serving as Legal Counsel to the Chief for a two-year period.
From there, Gomez would serve as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Clinton Administration for the National Economic Council; that role came concurrent to a promotion at the Common Carrier Bureau to Chief of the Network Services Division.
After a year as senior legal advisor to Bill Kennard (2000-2001), Gomez would spend seven years as Deputy Chief of the FCC’s International Bureau.
In 2006, however, Gomez would exit and enter the private sector, taking a position as VP of Government Affairs for Sprint Nextel.
But, upon the election of Barack Obama as U.S. President, she returned to Washington politics, serving for three months on the U.S. Trade Representative Transition Team. In 2009, she joined the NTIA, serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary until March 2013.
At that point, Gomez entered the private sector for a second time by joining Wiley, the law firm founded by former FCC Chairman Dick Wiley.
After nine years, Gomez “retired” in June 2022. But, that retirement would end in January with her role at the Department of State, serving as Senior Advisor for International Information and Communications Policy.
And, taking that role could have put Gomez in the perfect position for joining Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks as a fifth Democrat on the Commission, free of the drama associated with Sohn. And, it could finally allow the Biden Administration to move forward on regulatory matters such as a return of “net neutrality,” a key focal point of Democrats at the FCC unable to move forward given the refusal of Republicans to make that happen.
Then, there is the matter of desired deregulation for broadcast media. Would that happen with Gomez on board? It’s not likely, as Rosenworcel herself attempted to block the “modernization” efforts of her precedessor, Ajit Pai.
What is for certain, however, is that Gomez likely has a cleaner path to the FCC.
