Mignon L. Clyburn
Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (since July 2009)
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(FCC)
Clyburn has ten years of experience working for an agency that regulates utilities and transportation in South Carolina. She also has a father, James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), who's currently the House majority whip. Both topics of conversation were discussed before President Barack Obama nominated Mignon to the board of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Clyburn joins the FCC as its third Democrat on the five-person board. She will decide agency policies regarding the regulation of television, Internet and radio. The commission also distributes broadband access to companies and approves media transactions like mergers and acquisitions. In her first two years on the job, she has dealt with the creation of a national broadband strategy and the thorny issue of net neutrality, where she was often lobbied as a wildcard vote. She will serve a five-year term.
Clyburn was born in 1962 to a father who taught high-school history and a mother who was a librarian. The father, James Clyburn, would eventually become South Carolina's Commissioner of Human Affairs, and, by the time Mignon turned 21, he had become the first black U.S. House Member from South Carolina since 1897.
Newspaper Publisher
Mignon attended the University of South Carolina where she majored in banking, finance and economics. In 1984, after earning the degrees, Clyburn became the publisher and general manager of her father's brainchild: a weekly Charleston newspaper that focused on issues affecting the African-American community. Clyburn worked at the now-defunct Coastal Times for 14 years.
The FCC regulates a variety of communication mediums, which include television, Internet and radio. The agency also allocates broadband wires and approves media ownership.
In February 2009, Congress passed the $787 billion stimulus package, which included $7.2 billion for the expansion of broadband. One of the first tasks on tap for Clyburn was to help the board develop a strategy for broadband expansion nationwide. The FCC delivered its proposal to Congress in March 2010. The 360-page document contained nearly 200 policy recommendations for the FCC and other agencies to implement over the next decade.
Clyburn's closest confidante is her father, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.). Many close allies of Rep. Clyburn attended Mignon's confirmation hearing, including defeated Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.), Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Rep. Henry Brown (R-S.C.).
Prior to Mignon Clyburn's confirmation hearing, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) introduced her to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. "It's [South Carolina's] a small state," said Graham. "We all pretty much know each other. All of us who know her and have worked with her throughout the years trust her to be honest with you and to put the best interests of her community ahead of her own."
In 1992, Mignon Clyburn donated $707 to her father's campaign in the House race for South Carolina's 6th district. She has not donated to any other campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
- Center for Responsive Politics
- Barrett, Barbara, "Mignon Clyburn pledges balanced approach," The State, July 16, 2009
- Puzzanghera, Jim, "FCC chairman has broad approach to Net access," Los Angeles Times, July 20, 2009
- Clyburn statement, FCC web site, Dec. 20, 2010
- "Politician's daughter says no to special treatment," The Herald Rock Hill, Nov. 15, 1992
- Rosen, James, "The Obama effect: A Clyburn on FCC?," The State, May 1, 2009
- Rosen, James, "The Obama effect: A Clyburn on FCC?" The State, May 1, 2009
- "Clyburn Tapped by Obama to Fill Democratic Slot at Commission," TR Daily, April 30, 2009
- The National Broadband Initiative, accessed Nov. 18, 2010
- Kang, Cecilia, The Washington Post, Post Tech, "The Underestimated Mignon Clyburn," Nov. 4, 2009
- Kang, Cecilia, The Washington Post, PostTech, FCC chair announces net neutrality push without re-asserting role over broadband Internet, Dec. 1, 2010
- Malcolm, Andrew, "Obama's FCC pick happens to be daughter of key House Democrat Clyburn," Los Angeles Times Online, June 2009
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