Obama Campaign Donors Gets FCC Waiver

David Grain

A private-equity company owned by a campaign donor to U.S. President Barack Obama won a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission that may help it bid in airwaves auctions, according to Bloomberg.

Grain Management LLC may not have qualified for benefits reserved for small businesses because airwaves leases to AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. caused it to exceed the program’s income limits, the company had said in an FCC filing. The agency has adopted a waiver, an FCC spokesman, Neil Grace, said Tuesday in an e-mail without providing details.

Grain Management, based in Sarasota, Florida, invests in media and communications and is controlled by David Grain, according to the company’s March 4 filing asking the FCC to waive the rule.

David Grain contributed more than $60,000 to Obama’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 2008, and $22,500 in 2012, Federal Election Commission filings show. He was also one of Obama’s top fundraisers for the 2008 election, bringing in $200,000 to $500,000, according to the campaign.

The FCC, led by Democratic Chairman Tom Wheeler, voted 3-to-2 along party lines behind closed doors July 21 to waive the rule, allowing the company to seek bidding credits that offer discounts on winning bids, according to people with knowledge of the vote who asked for anonymity because the proceedings hadn’t been made public.

The airwaves auctions, which were authorized by Congress, are intended to raise at least $28 billion for U.S. national priorities including debt relief. A sale earlier this year of 10 megahertz raised $1.56 billion.

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