Meredith Attwell Baker, one of the two Republican Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, is planning to resign and become a lobbyist for the cable giant Comcast-NBC Universal.

Just four months after voting to approve the the controversial merger of Comcast and NBC, Baker announced Wednesday she will become senior vice president of government affairs for NBC Universal. She had argued that the merger had “the potential to bring exciting benefits to consumers that outweigh potential harms.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“I’ve been privileged to serve in government for the past seven years under President Obama at the FCC and President Bush at NTIA, I’m excited to embark on a new phase of my career with Comcast and NBCUniversal,” Baker said in a statement.

“This is just the latest — though perhaps most blatant — example of a so-called public servant cashing in at a company she is supposed to be regulating,” Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron said in a statement. “No wonder the public is so nauseated by business as usual in Washington — where the complete capture of government by industry barely raises any eyebrows.”

Baker is legally barred from lobbying the commission for two years.

She was nominated by President Barack Obama as a member of the Federal Communications Commission on June 25, 2009, and sworn in on July 31, 2009. Baker was also the head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration under President George W. Bush.

Image courtesy of Flickr