There is a new sheriff in town. The FCC appoints Laura Smith to take Riley's job.

Don't know about that, but continuously posting your tag (complete with its misspelling of the surname of the object of your affection) is a bit much.

 

No comment.

 

Wow! You are the first one to ever point out that Hollingsworth's name was misspelled after two years. Thank you very much. By the way, in your post the spelling of sirname is actually surname.


Tom

 

That could be due to that glass house

 

Re: Laura Smith

All: I've sampled some of the comments here. I'd like to post some information from one of the attorneys at Schulman Rogers. I have known Alan Tilles for a number of years, and I want to say up front that he's not only a good attorney but a person of integrity as well. Here's Alan's comments referenced back to some of the comments posted here earlier:

As a partner at Shulman Rogers and the person who Laura has worked for the past two years, I'd like to clear up a few misconceptions about Laura and her background:

"It's all about who is willing to work in DC."

Actually, Laura lives just outside of Gettysburg, PA, about 15 minutes from the FCC's Gettysburg office. That's about an hour and a half to three hours (depending on the time of day) from the FCC's main DC office.

"Sounds like she's done her part as a lawyer for lobbyists"

While Laura would be considered a "lobbyist" during her tenure at ITA/EWA, remember that this particular trade association represents the two-way wireless industry. More importantly, while here at Shulman Rogers almost 100% of Laura's time was spent representing public safety radio licensees. Also, as a former FCC attorney for many years, she is well familiar with the Commission, so the typical new employee "ramp up" time is minimized here (except for the case load, of course).

"The new counsel is not a ham and probably has little knowledge of Amateur Radio, probably thinking of us as "Oh, those geeks." As such, most, if not all, of her priorities (at least initially) will be with the other FCC-regulated services."

Actually, a huge number of our private radio and public safety clients (who make up the overwhelming majority of our telecom clients) are Amateur Radio licensees. Laura has great respect for the Amateur community, and was truly excited about being able to accept this job.

"Women in DC are mostly stooges, not to be confused with a lot of the males who are the same. It is not a surprise that the FCC, especially under Obama, would pick a female. Her "job" is actually a political payoff for working for the party. None of these people need be qualified, competent nor do they need to understand the job. If they did not exist, we would be better off (as with the CPSC, spending billions with no result in forty years)."

Actually, this position is not a political appointment, and Laura didn't work on either campaign (I had her too busy for that!). Going back to work at the FCC has actually been in the works since well before the election. Laura took several years off to care for her young child, and then at my urging agreed to come work for me on a half-time basis for one year (although it wound up being more than half-time), prior to going back to the FCC in Gettysburg. Fortunately for me (and our clients), I was able to talk her into a second year here at the Firm.

Further, anyone that would accuse Laura of being a "stooge" because she's a woman doesn't know her in the least. We used to tease each of other that, between the two of us, she's tougher than I am (probably learned from her Police Chief father). And while I have more technical radio knowledge, her background at the FCC and ITA/EWA gave her an immense amount of radio background (and hopefully I helped a little with that, too). I recognize that private radio isn't amateur radio, but it certainly gives her an excellent background and jumping off point to move in the amateur enforcement area more quickly than someone without such a background.

"Be that as it may, you have to wonder about an attorney who spent a lot of her career in private practice and then gives it up for a position as a government attorney, especially if she had made partner at Shulman Rogers. I suspect her income is about to take a drastic hit. Or maybe not, depending on how good of an attorney she was or if she had made partner (I suspect not, and that might be why she left). Maybe we'll find out eventually."

As I mentioned above, Laura never intended to work at Shulman Rogers full time. The idea was to help me with rebanding until the program was completed (so much for THAT idea!) and then return to the FCC on a full time basis. I promise you that she makes more money now.

"But it goes without saying that it's a heluva lot harder to make it in the competitive world of private practice than it is to "make it" (such as that is) as a government employee."

If Laura ever wants to come back here, I'd be delighted and honored to have her as my partner. She "made it" fine during her two years here, and the clients loved her.

"On edit, I see that the ARRL article says she was "of counsel" at Shulman Rogers. This means she was associated with them essentially on an ad hoc basis and probably had her own separate practice. Attorneys who leave private practice for government positions generally do so because their private practices are not doing very well, or they have political ambitions. It's doubtful that a position as an FCC lawyer would be a path to a political career so that leaves the first option."

We made Laura "Of Counsel" because of her part-time status, and to denote that she was more than an associate attorney here. Further, that seemed to make the most sense because Laura worked from her home, and only occasionally came down here to the office (when she wasn't travelling to see clients). No negative connotations should be taken from this designation.

"Also, you have to wonder about something else: she's now in the position to issue and enforce (or not issue and not enforce) citations against the people she used to represent. Can you say, "conflict of interest?" Not that there will be any but, in politics, you try to avoid not only conflicts of interest but the appearance of them."

I have trained a number of associates who left to go work at the FCC (two are there now, other than Laura), the FCC has conflict rules, so you shouldn't see any issues there.
BTW, Laura has family history in FCC Enforcement. Her Father-in-Law is former Field Operations Bureau Chief Richard Smith.
I believe that everyone will be well served by her tenure in this position. Good luck to all!

Alan S. Tilles, Esquire
Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy & Ecker, P.A.
11921 Rockville Pike, Third Floor
Rockville, MD 20852
www.shulmanrogers.com

​

I am going to follow Alan's comments with a few of my own.

I spent several years working with Laura Smith as the 800 MHz rebanding plan began to coalesce. While doing this, I was impressed by Laura's dedication to trying to find the most equitable solution for all concerned, and to deal strictly with facts and not with emotions. She did a very good job. I have very great confidence that she will put her heart and soul into whatever she undertakes. As of now she's in Enforcement at the FCC. You can count on her to do a good job of this, and to conduct herself and her office with integrity.

Dave Maples, WB4FUR

First licensed 1967, callsign above in 1968 (remember the 1-year Novice license?)