Obama nominates two new FCC commissioners

President Obama has nominated Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel to serve as FCC commissioners, replacing Meredith Baker, who left several months ago to join Comcast (CP: FCC commissioner jumps ship for Comcast post), and Michael Copps, who is planning to retire.

Pai, a Republican, is a former FCC deputy general counsel who is currently a partner with law firm Jenner & Block. He also has served as general counsel at Verizon.

Rosenworcel, a Democrat, works for Senate Commerce chairman Jay Rockefeller, who been a champion of a nationwide public safety network and has proposed legislation to give the D-block to public safety and to fund public safety network construction with proceeds from an incentive auction of TV broadcast spectrum (CP: Proposed Rockefeller bill would give D-block to public safety).

Rosenworcel also has previous experience working for the FCC where she was a legal counsel to the wireline bureau chief and later a senior legal advisor to Copps.

Both nominees will need to be approved by Congress before joining FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioners Robert McDowell and Mignon Clyburne on the five-person commission. No more than three commissioners can be from the same party—and both Genachowski and Clyburne are Democrats. Accordingly, President Obama was obliged to nominate one Republican.

“President Obama made two outstanding choices for the Commission and for the American people,” said Genachowski in a statement. “Given their talent, leadership and expertise in our space, they would both play an invaluable role at the FCC.”