What They're Saying

The Patriot Ledger
Quincy, Mass. | Published: Friday, April 20, 2007

Verizon absent from Web site

The coalition that was created last month to push a bill that would make it easy for telecom companies to get TV cable franchises here calls itself Massachusetts Consumers for Technology and Cable Choice.

But the group's Web site, consumersfortechchoice.org, doesn't mention that its primary founder isn't really a consumer at all. The group was launched by Verizon - the same New York-based company that is steadily expanding its TV service in many states, including Massachusetts.

Verizon is frustrated that it needs town-by-town approval to get cable licenses here, a process that can take a year or longer.

Verizon representatives have been up front when asked about the company's role in Consumers for Tech Choice. Other business groups also played a part in its inception. But it seems a bit strange that the main player in the organization isn't clearly mentioned on the Web site.

Jack Yunits, the Brockton-based government relations consultant who acts as the group's spokesman, says the omission of Verizon's name was an accident. He says he'll try to get the name up on the site as soon as possible.

"If they're not up there, they should have been," Yunits says of Verizon. "I don't know why they're not. ... They've never tried to hide it as far as I can tell."

If the strategy sounds familiar, it's because it is. In 2005, the state's rival auto insurers funded two "grassroots coalitions" - one to lobby for insurance reform and one that lobbied against it. At least the insurers' names made the two coalitions' Web sites.