A little more than a year ago, when President-elect Barack Obama was merely Sen. Barack Obama, a former classmate of his from Harvard Law School, wrote this in blog entry on the Illinois Democrat’s Web site:

 

“He (Obama) is a 21st century candidate who recognizes that technology will be a key part of the solution to better government, and a key part of the solution to so many of the specific issues that concern Americans: health care, energy, education, as well as job creation and economic growth.”

 

Now fast forward to this morning.

 

The writer – Julius Genachowski, once a high-level staff member at the Federal Communications Commission under President Clinton, and who led the Obama’s technology and innovation agenda – is being widely reported as the nation's next FCC (News - Alert) (News - Alert) chairman.

 

Media members covering IT and telecommunications long have placed the entrepreneurial Genachowski – a Washington, D.C. area venture capitalist, pictured right – on the FCC head short list.

 

Today, citing unnamed sources, an online broadband technology magazine, CED, reported that Obama will in fact appoint Genachowski to the post.

 

“The next Chairman of the FCC is going to be Julius Genachowski, according to sources familiar with the choice,” CED’s Brian Santo reports.

 

Messages left for Genachowski and Obama’s presidential transition team were not immediately returned.

 

More than three weeks ago, Cecilia Kang of The Washington Post reported that Genachowski was in line for the post.

 

“Sources close to transition officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Genachowski had been recently meeting with key Democratic lawmakers to see if the role of CTO would have policy-making authority and decided against taking the job when he realized the definition of CTO would not include a strong regulatory role,” Kang reports. “Instead, Genachowski expressed interest in the FCC post. He previously served as chief counsel to former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt.”

 

In fact, Genachowski has been around the telecommunications space for nearly 20 years, according to reports.

 

According to Matthew Lasar of online technology magazine Ars Technica, he served as law clerk to Supreme Court justices David Souter and William Brennan in the early 1990s, then served Hundt, starting in about 1994.

 

“A year later, he went out on a limb and wrote a letter to The New Republic, urging its readers to file comments on Hundt’s proposal that broadcasters ‘generate a minimum amount of children’s educational programming each week (say three hours rising to five).’ ”

 

As Lasar notes, the FCC eventually followed through on the notion, settling on three hours.

 

Genachowski reportedly also helped Hundt with a crusade against broadcasters who dropped the voluntary ban on hard liquor ads on television – a move that got the former FCC chairman into trouble.

 

Here’s what Genachowski reportedly said: “We don’t have a consensus now at the commission or on the Hill about what the commission’s next step will be. There may not be that much left to talk about.”

 

He was reportedly promoted to chief counsel in 1996, where Lasar said he helped Hundt target the Nielsen rating service, “which the FCC feared might have been undercounting minorities and children as TV viewers.”

 

By the end of 1997, he was no longer with the FCC.

 

Before he left, buried in FCC meeting minutes somewhere, Hundt reportedly said this: “At the outset, I would like to recognize my legal counsel, Julius Genachowski, who will shortly be leaving my office for the private sector. He has been a gifted and marvelous counsel – and a good friend – and I want to publicly express my great appreciation for his wisdom and hard work for me, and for the American public.”

 

Ars Technica reports that Genachowski went on to serve on the boards of JackBe.Com, Expedia (News - Alert) Inc, Hotels.com, the Motley Fool, and Ticketmaster, and as general counsel to General Atlantic, USA Networks, Interactive Corp., USA Networks, and USA Broadcasting.

 

Then, according an August 2003 article in The New York Times, Interactive formed a joint venture with Viviendi called Vivendi (News - Alert) Universal Entertainment.The entity’s chief executive officer , Barry Diller, received a 1.5 percent stake in VUE, then left it in 2002 after working with the project for less than a year.

 

The Times reports that Diller transferred some of his gains to three top Interactive staff, and that Genachowski received about $2.5 million worth of that stake.

 

Now, if appointed, Genachowski will lead a federal agency that has become more critical to the nation’s economy and quality of life as Internet communications, VoIP and other technologies have become more advanced, cheaper and more widespread.

 

The next FCC chairman follows a controversial figure in Kevin Martin, who has been called manipulating and non-collegial and has elicited calls for transparency from Congressional leaders.

 

Only time will tell where Genachowski, should be appointed, stands on pressing matters such as broadband deployment and net neutrality. We may find a clue here: in the way Genachowski introduces Obama’s technology plan in that blog entry from more than a year ago:

 

“I recently heard this summary of the core principles of the Obama Technology & Innovation Plan: Open Government. Open Networks. Open Markets,” Genachowski writes. “The plan is the most comprehensive and detailed tech & innovation plan put forward by any candidate. But also bold, and simple at its core.”