On Nov. 14, the U.S. Senate approved Jonathan Adelstein, Democratic aide to outgoing Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), to serve on the Federal Communication Commission.
Adelstein, confirmed in the Senate by a voice vote, will slip into the fifth seat vacated by Democrat Gloria Tristani, who resigned last year to run for the U.S. Senate from New Mexico.
The FCC typically reflects the White House party in power 3-2, but the commission has been a four-person show for longer than expected, due to unrelated issues and nomination disputes. President Bush had announced in February his wish for Adelstein to be the second Democrat commissioner.
Michael Copps, the lone Democrat before the nomination, remarked of the Adelstein news, "I am happy for the Commission [because] we also will be up-and-running at full couplement and in the way intended by the statutes that guide us."
Adelstein was a legislative aide to Daschle for six years and focused in part on telecommunications and technology. His term ends in June 2003.
