Letter sent by Abercrombie to FCC seems a bit dubious

Last August, then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie revealed his position on the proposed sale of Time Warner Cable to Comcast for $45 billion.

Abercrombie said he liked the deal mostly because the deal would reportedly bring discount Internet access to low-income people in Hawaii, because Time Warner owns Oceanic.

To show how fond he was of the $45 billion merger, Abercrombie wrote the Federal Communications Commission, which is still reviewing the deal.

"Your approval of this transaction should bring this needed service from the mainland to our shores," Abercrombie wrote on Aug. 22.

Well, actually, he didn’t write that.

On July 30, Ron Orlando, Comcast’s executive director of government affairs, wrote those words as part of a proposed letter for Abercrombie to sign and send to the FCC.

Abercrombie’s ghostwritten letter was one of dozens of letters Comcast had written under the name of city and state officials across the country asking for the sale to take place.

The lobbying was detailed by reporter Spencer Woodman, writing in the online news outlet, In These Times.

Woodman filed a freedom of information request to get the emails regarding the Comcast letter that Abercrombie would sign.

Blake Oshiro, Abercrombie’s deputy chief of staff, confirmed in an interview last week that the Comcast letter was circulated among state officials

"We asked DCCA to review and revise the proposed letter, and that is what the governor sent to the FCC after conferring with the then-director (Kealii) Lopez," Oshiro said.

Ironically, Abercrombie was climbing into Comcast’s corner at the same time that Hawaii’s own Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs was reviewing the deal.

"Please hold off on any formal comments to the FCC regarding Comcast … a letter from the Governor to the FCC at this time, would potentially undermine our negotiations with Comcast," Kealii Lopez, DCCA director, wrote to Oshiro.

Lopez said while she appreciated "the Governor’s support of the merger and understand and support his vision," there needed to be some coordination.

In an interview last week, Lopez said she didn’t want the letter "to have a chilling effect or influence our negotiations, but it didn’t affect our negotiations."

According to the emails, Lopez said she "attempted to water it down as well as make clear that we have our own franchise transfer process as it relates to Hawaii."

As more consumer groups are learning of Abercrombie’s involvement in pumping up Comcast, there is a new round of concern.

"It appears that Comcast hijacked Hawaii’s regulatory process, engaging in private meetings with Gov. Abercrombie and even drafting the letter that he would send to the FCC," said Chris Conybeare, president of the Media Council Hawaii.

"Comcast has been calling the shots and this entire issue deserves a thorough and public investigation."

Conybeare said he also was concerned because one of the state officials involved with the letter and the Comcast negotiations is Catherine Awakuni, formerly state cable television administrator, who was named as the new DCCA director by Gov. David Ige.

After the Abercrombie letter was sent, Comcast officials stopped off in Honolulu to personally thank him at a private Plaza Club lunch.

And, of course, there is a bit of a money trail in this tale.

Shortly before Comcast sent the letter to Abercrombie for his signature, Comcast’s Ron Orlando sent Abercrombie a $1,000 donation, and the year before that, Comcast donated the maximum amount allowed, $6,000, to Abercrombie.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.