Save Access

from: Callahan’s Cleveland Diary

SB 117 cruises through Senate; 11 of 12 Democrats vote to legalize digital redlining

Less than 24 hours after its approval by the Energy and Public Utilities Committee, Senate Bill 117 was passed by the full Ohio Senate 29 to 4.

The vote Wednesday afternoon was powerful testimony to the raw political power of AT&T, and to the total disregard of Senators of both parties for local home rule, democratic access to technology, consumer protection or rational analysis — at least where AT&T’s money is concerned.

The four “against” votes were Republicans Gary Cates, David Goodman and Robert Schuler, and Democrat Eric Kearney. Schuler, the Energy Committee chairman from Cincinnati, was the sole vote against Committee approval and may well have been unhappy with the way he was sidelined in the negotiation of minor amendments. Also interesting is the fact that Schuler, Cates and Kearney are all from Cincinnati Bell territory. Goodman, of Bexley, came out against the bill on home rule grounds several weeks ago.

Even more noteworthy, however, is the unfortunate fact that every Democrat except Kearney — including such “progressives” as Dale Miller and Shirley Smith of Cleveland, Sue Morano of Lorain, and Teresa Fedor of Toledo — voted for a bill that…

* eliminates the last vestige of public oversight over Ohio’s cable industry,
* frees both cable and telecom corporations to redline and cherrypick Ohio communities to their hearts’ content,
* wipes out one of the few sources of community funding for low-income digital inclusion initiatives, and
* abrogates hundreds of existing contracts between local communities and cable providers…

… all in exchange for AT&T’s promise of a fiber-enhanced video/broadband buildout that is certain to happen anyway.

What a disgrace.

I’m looking forward to asking Shirley Smith, my Senator, what exactly she thought was the benefit of such a bill to her inner-city constituents, and why she chose to ignore the strenuous objections of the Mayor and Council of the city she “represents”.

Or, for that matter, why she never bothered to respond to the email I sent her three weeks ago, voicing the problems with SB 117 raised by Cleveland Digital Vision.

I suspect there will be more of a fight in the House as more Ohioans figure out what a hustle is being run on them. Of course AT&T and the House “leadership” will try to avoid this by ramrodding the Senate bill through in a few weeks.

Whether they succeed will depend, in large part, on how many constituents express their concerns to their Representatives right now, this weekend.