Report: If Hillary Wins, FCC's Wheeler Stays

Tom Wheeler

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler intends to stay in his job until the middle of next year if presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton wins the White House, multiple telecommunications industry sources told Bloomberg BNA.

Wheeler has avoided any public pronouncements about when he might leave the agency. FCC spokeswoman Kim Hart declined to comment. However, industry sources said the chairman has told telecommunications industry insiders privately about his plans for next year.

Staying until mid-2017 gives Wheeler a better shot at wrapping up several big-ticket agency initiatives, sealing his legacy as an activist chairman. Wheeler is hoping to finish several controversial agency proposals before he leaves the chairmanship, including rules impacting the business broadband market, broadband privacy related to his net neutrality rules and a complex auction to shift spectrum licenses from television broadcasters into the hands of mobile carriers hungry for more airwaves.

A mid-2017 time frame could also be just what a Clinton administration would prefer, several sources said.

Wheeler technically could serve out his full five-year commission term, which doesn't end until Nov. 3, 2018. That is not likely; according to conventional wisdom inside the Beltway, a Clinton loyalist is expected to take the helm of an agency that has grown from relative obscurity to playing a prominent policy role in the Obama administration.