Upton (left) and other Republicans have asked Genachowski for details of contacts. | AP Photos GOP launches net neutrality probe

Suspicious that the FCC’s net neutrality order was orchestrated by outside liberal interests, top Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked agency officials Thursday for documents to show whether that is indeed the case.

The emerging probe, which critics dismissed as a partisan fishing expedition, focuses on allegedly improper contact before the December net neutrality vote between the FCC and the Obama administration and public interest groups.


In a letter to Democratic FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and other senior Republicans asked for details of contacts between the commissioners and commission aides leading up to the commission’s 3-2 vote approving the rules on Dec. 21.

“Agency decisions should be based on law and policy,” the lawmakers wrote. “These allegations suggest the FCC's network neutrality proceeding was designed to fulfill a presidential campaign slogan, when it should have been based on an analysis of statutory authority, an economic analysis of the Internet service market, and an examination of the record.”

Upton and Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) are focusing on meetings FCC chief of staff Eddie Lazarus may have had with net neutrality opponents in which he reportedly threatened to place them under the commission’s most restrictive regulatory regime.

The lawmakers also expressed concern about meetings that Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps’s staff reportedly had with the public interest group Free Press and meetings between June 25, 2009, to Dec. 21, 2010 that Genachowski and his staff may have had with the White House on the issue.

“As with previous requests for information from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, we will cooperate fully in our response,” Genachowski’s office said in a statement.

Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron described the probe as “a poorly researched, blatantly partisan fishing expedition.”

“Congress should be far more concerned with the agency's coordination with powerful companies like AT&T, which shaped the final net neutrality rules that Free Press roundly criticized,” Aaron said.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 5:08 p.m. on July 28, 2011.