CA Lawmaker Shamed For Net Neutrality Sellout Via Billboard

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A California lawmaker that derailed the state's effort at tough net neutrality rules is being named and shamed in a new crowdfunded billboard backed by net neutrality activists. Last week we noted how California Assemblymember Miguel Santiago became internet famous for helping AT&T neuter the most important portions of the state's looming net neutrality bill. Santiago rushed through a number of AT&T and Comcast backed amendments in a last-minute vote without allowing anyone (including the bill's author, State Senator Scott Wiener) debate the changes.

Santiago and AT&T circulated a misleading study that tried to imply AT&T's anti-competitive abuse of usage caps and overage fees would help the state's minorities. Santiago's office also ran away from the press last Tuesday evening, rightly wary they'd highlight how his changes were directly requested by the broadband industry.

AT&T and Comcast figure it's unlikely they could stop the bill from passing in activist-heavy California, so their lobbyists are working hard to ensure the final version is notably weaker than the original.
But Santiago is now receiving the ire of net neutrality activists Fight For the Future, who explain in a Medium post why they've crowdfunded a new billboard that will be going up in Santiago's district shortly.
"Assemblyman Santiago seems to think that people don’t really care about the details of net neutrality, and will just forget all about this," the group argued. "So net neutrality activists are crowdfunding a billboard to prove him wrong, and make sure that his constituents know exactly what he’s doing in their name."
The bill is still moving forward (after Wiener originally claimed he'd be pulling it), but Wiener states he will axe the bill if it isn't restored to its original form, which took tougher positions on things like zero rating, interconnection shenanigans, and "double dipping" access fees.
"To be clear, if the bill ultimately remains in its current form, I will withdraw it, as I have no desire to pass a fake net neutrality bill," Wiener says. “But my sincere hope is that we will be able to amend it in the near future back into a strong form. For today’s hearing, I simply want the current version to move forward in order to continue working on it."

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/CA-Lawmaker-Shamed-For-Net-Neutrality-Sellout-Via-Billboard-142078

[MagickMuffin]

1. Here's the billboard

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2. Thank you Magick.

[Cha]

3. Gracias, Magick!

[MagickMuffin]

4. This from wiki

State Assemblyman Miguel Santiago has received over $60,000 from telecom lobbyists, with AT&T and Comcast being the top telecom contributors, over the course of his assembly career. However, Wiener said that despite the "strenuous disagreement here, [...] it’s not about campaign contributions" and that the telecoms "spent a lot of money in California targeting members with Twitter and Facebook ads, doing robo-calls to seniors telling them their bills are going to go up, that this bill is going to make your monthly payment go up. They flooded the capitol with lobbyists."

On June 6, 2018, Santiago released a press statement saying that his amendments were intended to help "deliver a bill that could withstand legal challenges from the telecommunications industry" and that "we ran out of time" to reach an agreement with Wiener. Knowing Wiener would not support the changes, the committee "took action to insert amendments without his consent to keep the bill moving." Santiago expressed regret at the "legislative maneuverings" required to advance the bill and that he does not "envision policy being created in this manner." The public response was intense, and Santiago stated that his family had received threats and that offensive memes smearing his wife and children had been shared online.

Taking money from lobbyist only proves one thing, which is you are bought and paid for. Sure it is a good way to keep moving the bill forward. However, in the process you were acting like a republicon wherein you placed a lot of goody goody offers to your Corporate Constituents by NOT allowing anyone to review what you added to the bill.