Help for your desk so that it is no longer flooded with calls with the new HP Vectra PCs. [INLINE] Washington Unwrapped graphic New FCC chief to be named Kennard expected to get post, but choice has irritated Sen. Hollings July 24, 1997: 6:49 p.m. ET [LINK] [INLINE] Hundt sees book in future - June 2, 1997 FCC Chairman steps down - May 27, 1997 [INLINE] Federal Communications Commission Infoseek search __________ ____ ____ WASHINGTON (CNNfn) - President Clinton has settled on William Kennard to be his choice to become the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, well-placed Administration officials tell CNN. [INLINE] Kennard, the FCC's current general counsel, would succeed Reed Hundt, if confirmed by the Senate. [INLINE] The sources say the president could make the announcement as early as Friday, though the official announcement could slip a bit. [INLINE] Kennard was favored for the job by Vice President Al Gore, the White House official who makes most of the final decisions regarding FCC appointments, because of Gore's long time work on telecommunications issues. But another telecommunications policy maker in Washington is furious at the White House for the Kennard selection. [INLINE] Sen. Ernest Hollings, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, had pushed his former chief of staff on the committee, Ralph Everett, for the job. Everett, the first African American to ever serve as chief of staff to any Senate committee, had the endorsement of 16 Senators and was considered a leading candidate for the job. [INLINE] Not only is Hollings angry that his candidate didn't get the nod, but sources say he is also miffed about how the White House handled the process of making the final decision. White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles called Hollings, Senate sources say, "to apologize for how this was handled." [INLINE] One source close to Hollings told CNN Financial News, "Don't expect quick work in the Senate on this nominee." [INLINE] The president also is expected to nominate Justice Department attorney Michael Powell to fill a Republican vacancy on the five-member FCC, according to the sources. [INLINE] And Gloria Tristani, a phone regulator from New Mexico, is expected to be Clinton's choice to fill a Democratic seat. [INLINE] Those two nominations, however, aren't expected to be announced at the same time as the Kennard pick. Clinton already had nominated Kennard for the FCC. But the president has yet to name his choice for chairman of the agency following Hundt's announcement in May that he planned to leave. [INLINE] Clinton already has nominated Harold Furchtgott-Roth, chief economist for the House Commerce Committee, to fill a second Republican vacancy. The FCC oversees the phone, broadcast, wireless, satellite and cable-television industries. Link to top home | washington unwrapped | hot stories | contents | search | stock quotes | help Copyright © 1997 Cable News Network, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.