November 1,2016
the staff of the Rmidgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Turns out that Josh Gottheimer has more in common with “family member” Hillary Clinton than he lets on.
While his mentor Hillary Clinton is under FBI scrutiny again, it’s now come out that Josh Gottheimer is currently under investigation by the United States Senate for pay-for-play allegations.
During Gottheimer’s time at the FCC, the FCC granted a conditional waiver to LightSquared, a client of Burson-Marsteller, Gottheimer’s previous employer.
“The National Broadband Plan contains an obscure provision… LightSquared is the primary beneficiary of this provision… Mr. Gottheimer may have contributed to or profited from his employer’s relationship with LightSquared and now, as the lead FCC staffer on the President’s National Broadband Plan, he may have played a role in the consideration of LightSquared’s proposed network.” (Senator Chuck Grassley, “Letter To FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski,” United States Senate, 1/30/11)
Not only did the Senate begin investigating Josh Gottheimer – The Washington Post launched its own investigation into allegations of impropriety on Gottheimer’s part.
In a shocking twist, Gottheimer refused to meet with Members of the Senate, and refused to answer questions about his role in the FCC LightSquared waiver.
Below is the timeline of the LightSquared/Gottheimer scandal – even Democrats joined the chorus of outrage over Gottheimer’s pay-for-play scheme.
November 2009: Clinton confidant Mark Penn’s Burson-Marsteller begins representation of LightSquared (Senator Chuck Grassley, “Letter To FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski,” United States Senate, 1/30/11)
June 23, 2010: Without qualifications or experience, Josh Gottheimer lands the role of FCC Senior Counselor with a special responsibility towards implementing President Obama’s National Broadband Plan (Senator Chuck Grassley, “Letter To FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski,” United States Senate, 1/30/11)
July 20, 2010: A new comprehensive public relations and marketing strategy is launched for LightSquared, spearheaded by Burson
November 18, 2010: LightSquared submits FCC application for authorization
January 19, 2011: California Democrat Rep. Anna Eshoo writes letter of concern about LightSquared waiver request
January 26, 2011: FCC grants conditional waiver to LightSquared
January 30, 2011: Sen. Charles Grassley begins investigation into Josh Gottheimer’s FCC position and his relationship to LightSquared.
February 2, 2011: Washington Democrat Sen. Patty Murray writes letter of concern about LightSquared waiver request
February 8, 2011: – Minnesota Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar writes letter of concern about LightSquared waiver request
September 19, 2011: The Washington Post begins an investigation into Josh Gottheimer’s involvement in LightSquare’s FCC waiver
September 23, 2011: The Wall Street Journal launches a LightSquared investigation
March 8, 2012: After months of obfuscating, Gottheimer refuses to meet with Members of the Senate raising questions about his role in the FCC LightSquared waiver
What a creepy little troll.
Another liberal socialist scumbag…go back and crawl back into the hole from which you came…
“Josh Gottheimer joined the Commission in July 2010 – months after the Commission approved LightSquared’s plan to build out a nationwide 4G network, which has been conditioned on resolution of harmful interference issues, ,” Sun said in the statement. “The Commission’s career ethics staff reviewed his potential recusal requirements, as it does those of other FCC officials. The ethics team determined that LightSquared and its predecessors were not clients of Mr. Gottheimer while he was employed by Burson-Marsteller, and Mr. Gottheimer did not work on those matters. Also, the public relations firm is not a participant in any relevant FCC proceeding. Therefore, Mr. Gottheimer’s participation in LightSquared matters at the Commission raised no ethical concern.”