Municipal broadband hanging in the balance

Greensboro activist Jay Ovittore argues in a recent post on the Stop the Cap! website that S 1209, sponsored by NC Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston) amounts to an effort to kill municipal broadband.

An Associated Press story today profiles Becky and Dale Carlson, a North Carolina couple that relies on inexpensive and fast internet access for their home business selling photos and greeting cards online. Nut graf: “So Becky Carlson said she opposes a legislative proposal that would make it harder for cities and towns to build broadband internet systems that compete with big telephone and cable companies and hold down rates.

The bill’s cosponsors are Dan Blue (D-Raleigh), Pete Brunstetter (R-Forsyth), Fletcher Hartsell Jr. (R-Cabarrus, Iredell), Clark Jenkins (D-Edgecomb, Martin, Pitt) and Jerry Tillman (R-Montgomery, Randolph).

While the AP story doesn’t name the industry proponents of the Hoyle bill, Ovittore does: Time Warner Cable, AT&T and CenturyLink.

These corporation’s political action committees have been avid campaign contributors in the current campaign cycle. As a snapshot of their largesse, here a roundup of their donations to Triad lawmakers (Forsyth and Guilford) in the current campaign cycle, including three who face no electoral opposition this year.

• Pete Brunstetter (R-Forsyth) (no opponent): AT&T NC PAC ($750)
• Don Vaughan (D-Guilford): AT&T NC PAC ($1,000), Time Warner Cable NC PAC ($1,000), CenturyLink Employees PAC ($500)
• Phil Berger (R-Rockingham, Guilford) (no opponent): AT&T PAC ($4,000), CenturyLink Employees PAC ($2,000), Time Warner Cable NC PAC ($1,500)
• Stan Bingham (R-Davidson, Guilford) (no opponent): Time Warner Cable NC PAC ($1,000)