Qwest Behind Coalition Effort to Derail Telecom Mergers
Company hijacks "Coalition" for its own self interest
MARCH 22, 2005-- LOS ANGELES, CA-- Public Interest Watch (PIW) today said it has contacted all 80 members of the Coalition for Equitable & Affordable Rural Service (CLEAR Coalition) -- a coalition created to reform the Universal Service fund -- to shed further light on Qwest Communications and its public relations firm Dittus Communications' involvement with the coalition. Qwest and Dittus have been using the coalition - apparently unbeknownst to the Coalition's members - in an effort to derail the telecom mergers between Verizon and MCI as well as AT&T and SBC.
"As far as we can tell, the members of the CLEAR Coalition joined the Coalition because of their desire to reform the Universal Service Fund, not to derail telecom mergers," said Lewis Fein, Executive Director of PIW.
The League of United Latin American Citizens has already withdrawn its support of the Coalition and other groups such as the Communications Workers of America have distanced themselves from the Qwest-funded effort.
The CLEAR Coalition claims to be a broad based alliance of over 80 agricultural, rural, consumer, business and public interest groups working to reform the Universal Service Fund through its support of public policies like the Rural Universal Service Equity Act of 2005.
"Qwest not only failed to disclose its involvement with and funding of the Coalition but apparently didn't even inform its supporters that they were hijacking the coalition to lobby against telecom mergers," continued Fein.
The Hill newspaper on Mar. 16, 2005 reported that Qwest and Dittus were behind the CLEAR Coalition's efforts to contact state and local public policy leaders all over the country to raise concerns about the proposed mergers. An email message from Dale Curtis, a Dittus employee, urged state and local policymakers to "raise red flags" with members of Congress about the proposed mergers.
"Qwest's opposition to the telecom mergers is not the issue here, although it's certainly ironic that they are bidding on MCI themselves," Fein continued. "The fact that they are the driver behind a campaign that duped and mislead organizations that are supporters of their Coalition is the larger issue. Organizations supported the CLEAR Coalition because of its support for reform of the universal service fund. It's apparent to us that none of them realized that the coalition is in fact a Qwest funded effort to promote its own very narrow self-interest."
For a complete list of the groups and individuals that the Clear Coalition lists as its supporters:
www.clearcoalition.org/who.html
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PIW is a nonprofit organization that seeks to spotlight abuses of public trust by non-profit organizations, government and regulatory officials.
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