AT&T’s Scheme to De-Regulate Lifeline ServicePaul Hogarthbyline‚ Jun. 17‚ 2009The California Public Utilities Commission is again scheduled to vote tomorrow on an AT&T-backed proposal to de-regulate Lifeline phone service for low-income users. The CPUC keeps delaying the vote, as they hope the seniors, disabled and poor people who have come out to each meeting and spoken against it would just go away. AT&T, however, has its own strategy to push the plan through – by asking non-profits that receive its financial support to speak out in favor. The company also exerts its influence on the Commissioners, by making campaign donations to their immediate family. CPUC President Mike Peevey is the husband of State Senator Carol Liu (D-Pasadena), who has taken over $20,000 from AT&T – and other companies the CPUC regulates. It has long been a thorny issue, and the Los Angeles Times even wrote a long piece about it in 2007. But with some state legislators starting to weigh in against the proposal (along with persistent grass-roots opposition), Lifeline telephone service can be saved. |