FCC member Robert McDowell may be yet again drawn into the debate surrounding the proposed AT&T-BellSouth merger, as McDowell recently excused himself from voting on the merger due to a conflict of interest. Honesty -- I thought that was a forgotten principle in politics these days.There is currently a 2-2 deadlock on the $79 billion deal, and "barring a last-minute breakthrough, we believe that FCC Chairman (Kevin) Martin is likely to call on his Republican colleague, Commissioner McDowell, who has stayed on the sidelines in the proceeding due to concern about a potential conflict of interest," according to officials.
So, I guess the previous conflict of interest is being swept under the rug in order to solve the stalemate. Hmm.
