In a message dated 11/30/2005 8:50:24 PM Eastern Standard Time, rbvallio@gmail.com writes:

Perhaps I am naive. What more proof is needed, other than his commission of the string of acts I see as qualifying to be investigated. I don't care how nice he is, or how he carries out the orders of his superiors -- only that he is exhibiting the behavior I consider meritorious of action. How long do we roll over for these bozos? Am I the only one who cares?

Bob, you are certainly not the only one who cares. The problem is that Franca, though he has failed to respond to several pieces of our correspondence, simply takes a different view than we do. There is nothing that we can point to that establishes that he is either derelict in his duty (other than the FOIA fiasco that was actually his predecessor's action, and that is in the Reconsideration Petition we have filed, and is a matter of public record) or has affirmatively taken unlawful or unethical steps. We know he is strongly biased in favor of BPL, but that is merely a reflection of former Chairman Powell's political position, which Franca is still echoing, not apparently having received any contrary instructions from Martin so far. We don't, in short, have enough evidence to jump on Franca individually, and it would be reckless and short-sighted to do that. We can be and have been aggressive, more so than ever before, on the issue, but when the battle gets personal with FCC staff, you had better be able to win, or the consequences for the future are dire. Surely enough, it is arguable that we have little to lose, as FCC seems to take a contrary position to ours every time we turn around, but we really do have to continue to stand our ground on the issues that we believe in and use the Rod Stafford strategy of continuing to push (which of course ultimately worked in the enforcement issue, and it is, in the big picture, working in the BPL area. Regulatory uncertainty is a death knell for BPL, and we are, pretty much alone, sustaining that uncertainty. The statistics Dave just cited prove that. BPL is going nowhere, and we are helping it get there fast. It isn't necessary to kick Franca in the shins (or elsewhere), and we couldn't make it hurt enough to make a difference. Chris