Jessica Rosenworcel has punched all the right tickets.
Top-ranked law school. Check.
Work at "white shoe" law firm. Check.
Senior FCC staffer. Check.
Top Senate Commerce Committee aide. Check.
Now Rosenworcel is poised for an e-ticket to the pinnacle of D.C.¹s telecom world: a commissioner¹s seat on the FCC.
Described by colleagues as whip-smart and intensely serious, she was recommended by her current boss, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), to fill the slot on the commission being vacated by Commissioner Michael Copps.
"Jessica has it all: keen intellect, vision and superb practical judgment for the art of the possible," Copps said in in 2007, when Rosenworcel left his staff to work for Rockefeller. "Their gain is my loss."
Like Rockefeller and several others who were wary of saying something that might jeopardize Rosenworcel¹s expected nomination, Copps declined to comment for this story.
One question surrounding Rosenworcel is whether she would replace Copps not just in person but in spirit: In his decade on the commission, the outspoken commissioner has emerged as a hero of consumer groups, an unabashed supporter of issues such as set neutrality and media reform.
Or would Rosenworcel tread a more centrist path in the mold of Chairman Julius Genachowski, who also boasted a sterling resume but has angered progressives with a split-the-difference approach to hot-button issues.
"I don¹t expect Jessica to become a standard-bearing speech-maker in the way Copps is," said Harold Feld, legal director of Public Knowledge. "It¹s a
matter of personal style."
While their styles may be different, Feld said her commitment to the public interest remains the same.
"She¹s still very committed to the same goals and principles that Commissioner Copps and Sen. Rockefeller are committed to," he said.
A telecom executive predicted that Rosenworcel would "make Julius work" for her support, referring to the chairman.
Joseph Miller, deputy director of the Media and Technology Institute at the Joint Center for Policy and Economic Studies, said he¹s been impressed by Rosenworcel's analytical approach to politically charged issues.
"She seems to go more on facts more so than a lot of people who are predisposed to hyperbole," he said.
During a forum last year on the controversy over reclassifying broadband as a Title II regulated service, Rosenworcel betrayed a practical streak.
The interest is "less strong in precisely which title of a statute these services fit," she was quoted by Washington Internet Daily saying, "in than whether or not we create a structure that's capable of delivering the public goods that members care about," like universal service and privacy.
At another conference in 2008, Rosenworcel remarked on the need for reform at the FCC, a cause House Republicans are taking up now.
"You have an agency that has lost sight of its mission - how do you create an agency that¹s more accountable to the American public?" Rosenworcel said. "Imagine an agency where you could look up information on available broadband plans."
"She wasn¹t a political person," said one telecommunications industry executive who worked with her at the commission. "It was more of a civil servant path than someone who just appeared because she was well-connected."
The words most often used to describe Rosenworcel - who¹s married to Mark Bailen, a media and intellectual property attorney for Baker Hostetler, and has two children - are smart, driven and no-nonsense.
"If you¹re going to have a meeting with her, you better be prepared," said an industry executive who worked with her in Congress. "She doesn¹t suffer
fools very well."
Rosenworcel, who turns 40 this month, earned her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and her law degree from New York University. She started her law career in 1997 as a communications associate for the law firm Drinker, Biddle.
In 1999 she landed a job as an adviser in the FCC¹s Common Carrier Bureau. Her eight years with the commission also included stints as legal counsel for the Wireline Competition Bureau and as senior adviser to Copps. She moved to Senate Commerce in 2007 as senior counsel.
If there¹s a knock on Rosenworcel, it¹s that she isn¹t known for having much of a sense of humor, something that can come in handy in a high-pressure, high-profile job like FCC commissioner.
"It¹s not that she isn¹t warm," said one telecommunications attorney. "But she kind of gets her game face on. When she¹s pushing a Jay Rockefeller bill or her agenda, she¹s not looking to laugh."
This article was previously available at Politico.
