One of the chairs of the North Carolina House Finance Committee abruptly resigned his chairmanship on the House floor Wednesday, submitting a letter read aloud in the chamber that accused fellow Republican House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) of having an unexplained business relationship with Time Warner Cable.

Rep. Robert Brawley (R-Iredell) wrote Tillis burst into his office demanding to know about a bill Brawley introduced that would have weakened the 2011 law Tillis strongly supported that severely restricted publicly owned broadband networks in the state.

“You slamming my office door shut, standing in front of me and stating that you have a business relationship with Time Warner and wanting to know what the bill was about,” Brawley wrote in his resignation letter. “You and I both know the bill stifles the competition with MI Connections in Mooresville. MI Connections is being operated just as any other free enterprise system and should be allowed to do so without the restrictions placed on them by the proponents of Time Warner.”

Tillis’ office described the resignation of Brawley’s chairmanship as “a mutual decision.”

Tillis was honored in 2011 as ALEC’s “Legislator of the Year” and received an undisclosed cash reward. Time Warner Cable is a corporate member of ALEC.

House Bill 557, introduced by Brawley, would have permitted an exception under state law for the community-owned MI Connection cable system to expand its area of service to include economic development sites, public safety facilities, governmental facilities, and schools and colleges located in and near the city of Statesville. It would also allow the provider to extend service based on the approval of the Board of County Commissioners and, with respect to schools, the Iredell County School Board.

The bill died in the Committee on Government earlier this month.

MI Connection is the publicly owned and operated cable and Internet system serving the towns of Mooresville, Davidson and Cornelius in the counties of Mecklenburg and Iredell. It was originally a former Adelphia-owned cable system that fell into disrepair before it was sold in a bankruptcy proceeding. MI Connection has proved financially challenging to the local communities it serves because the antiquated cable system required significant and costly upgrades, faces fierce competition from AT&T and Time Warner Cable, and lacks the technological advantage fiber to the home offers other public networks like Greenlight in Wilson and Fibrant in Salisbury. Despite the challenges, MI Connection has successfully upgraded its broadband infrastructure with the fastest speeds available in the area — up to 60/10Mbps.

Tillis helped shepherd into law the 2011 bill that Time Warner Cable helped write and sponsor designed to stop public networks like MI Connection from expanding and new public networks ever seeing the light of day. The legislation places strict limits on public broadband network deployment and financing. The bill Brawley introduced would have chipped away at the law’s limits on network expansion. Brawley’s letter suggests Tillis had direct involvement stopping his bill from getting further consideration.

Brawley

Both Brawley and Tillis represent portions of the MI Connection service area.

Time Warner Cable has a long history pushing for community broadband bans in North Carolina, but the bills never became law when the legislature was still in the hands of Democrats. But in late 2010, Republicans took control of the state house for the first time in more than a century. Time Warner Cable’s fortunes brightened considerably under Republicans like Rep. Marilyn Avila (R-Wake). Avila willingly met with Time Warner Cable’s top lobbyist to coordinate movement on the community broadband ban legislation she introduced and after it became law was honored by the state cable lobby at a retreat in Asheville.

Tillis, who became speaker of the house in 2011 under the new GOP majority, received $37,000 in telecom contributions in 2010–2011 (despite running unopposed in 2010), which is more than any other state lawmaker and significantly more than the $4,250 he received 2006–2008 combined. AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon each gave Tillis $1,000 in early-mid January, just before he was sworn in as speaker on January 26. Tillis was in a key position to make sure the anti-competitive bill moved along the legislative pipeline.

Last summer, Time Warner Cable returned the favor inviting Tillis to serve a prominent role at a media event inaugurating its Wi-Fi network in time for last year’s Democratic National Convention, held at the Time Warner Cable Arena.

Despite all that, newspapers in the state are having trouble determining exactly what ties Tillis has to Time Warner Cable. The Raleigh News & Observer noted, “It’s unclear what relationship Tillis might have to Time Warner. His financial disclosure lists no connection.”

The Greensboro News & Record published a non-denial denial from Tillis spokesman Jordan Shaw: “Shaw said he doesn’t know of any business relationship between Tillis and Time Warner.” The paper added, “a regional Time-Warner spokesman said Tillis has no ties to the company.”

“Not knowing” is not a total denial and a legislator need not have direct ties to a company to be influenced by their agenda through lobbyists like the North Carolina Cable Telecommunications Association, the statewide cable trade association that includes Time Warner Cable as its largest member. Then there are third-party groups.

A May 7 editorial in the News & Observer pointed out Tillis does have close ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group financed in part by Time Warner Cable and cited by CEO Glenn Britt as a useful asset to the cable operator because it was “particularly focused on telecom matters.” The commentary, “ALEC’s Guy is Thom Tillis,” reminded readers Tillis wasn’t just a casual member of the corporate-funded group, he’s a national board member. In fact, Stop the Cap! has learned he was ALEC’s 2011 Legislator of the Year. On hand at the 2011 New Orleans ALEC event to applaud Tillis were more than two dozen fellow North Carolina Republican legislators, including Reps. Marilyn Avila and Julia Howard.

Among the model, corporate ghost-written bills ALEC maintains in its extensive database is one that restricts or bans publicly owned broadband networks, similar to what passed in North Carolina in 2011.

The fortunes of ALEC (and the corporations that underwrite its operations) have continued to improve in North Carolina this year. The News & Observer notes:

ALEC, as it’s known, has provided language for bills that [have been] used this session in North Carolina, ranging from creating an independent board to take charter school governance away from the State Board of Education to protecting a Philadelphia-based company from lawsuits involving asbestos exposure to installing an anti-union amendment in the state constitution. Closer to home, the Civitas Institute, a conservative group, used ALEC literature in an indoctrination…er, training…session for freshman lawmakers.

“I wish you’d turn the camera off now because I am going to get up and leave if you don’t,” said Rep. Julia Howard

Uncovering the corporate influence and pay to play politics pervasive in North Carolina’s legislature on broadband matters has proved historically scandalous for members and ex-members alike, as Stop the Cap! has reported for more than four years:

• In 2009, Rep. Ty Harrell (D-Wake) ran away from his own bill to ban community broadband after he admitted he ran into a hornet’s nest of controversy over the legislation, which was introduced because Time Warner approached him and asked for it. Later that same year he ran into another hornet’s nest over allegations of misused campaign funds and resigned his office;
• In 2010, Sen. David Hoyle admitted he introduced a community broadband ban in the North Carolina Senate that the cable industry wrote with his help. When asked about criticism that he was “carrying water” for the cable companies, Hoyle replied, “I’ve carried more water than Gunga Din for the business community – the people who pay the taxes.” He decided not to run for re-election;
• In 2011, life became uncomfortable for Rep. Julia Howard (R-Davie, Iredell), who became so upset over scrutiny she received from Raleigh’s NBC affiliate over the bill to ban community broadband, she threatened to flee the interview if the cameras were not shut off.

Tillis is following in others’ footsteps and is suspected of having even bigger political ambitions for 2014 — challenging the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Kay Hagan.

The News & Observer thinks Tillis is forgetting about the people who elected him to office:

For North Carolinians of any political philosophy, however, the larger concern here is that laws are being written by those outside the state with only an ideological interest. ALEC, except for advancing its agenda, likely could care less about issues specific to North Carolina, things of intense, day-to-day concern to North Carolinians.

And not only are bills being influenced by ALEC, the speaker of the House is on the group’s board.

Thom Tillis and his Republican mates on Jones Street weren’t elected to march to orders issued by some national organization. Perhaps if they kept their eyes and ears open for constituents, their legislative agenda might be more about them and less about doing ALEC’s bidding.

Brawley himself is not free from controversy. In addition to attending the aforementioned ALEC event in New Orleans with Tillis, Avila, and Howard, earlier this year Brawley introduced House Bill 640, legislation that would roll back ethics reforms and allow lobbyists to once again give gifts to state lawmakers without any public disclosure.

Brawley told WRAL-TV that required ethics classes on gifts and disclosure requirements “are useless for anyone without internal ethics anyway. They only tell you the law. They do not guarantee integrity. What makes you think a person without ethics is going to obey a law anyway?”

The laws were enacted after a major 2006 scandal involving then-House Speaker Jim Black.

Corrections: In the original article, we mistakenly identified the News & Observer as a Charlotte newspaper. It is actually published in Raleigh. We also wrote that House Bill 557 died without being assigned to any committee for consideration. We received word the bill was actually referred to the Committee on Government on Apr. 4, 2013 where no further action was apparently taken. We regret the errors.

Verizon Wireless: You are being watched.

Would it bother you if the advertiser on that big billboard you just drove past could find out if you later visited that business in response? Should a store like Best Buy or Sears be able to know if you are only using their showrooms to see a product you will eventually buy online? Should your phone company be able to store your complete travel history for years and then create new products and services to pitch aggregated travel observations to anyone willing to pay?

Verizon Wireless does not think you will have a problem with any of this, because it has quietly begun selling this information through its Precision Market Insights (PMI) service.

AT&T is likely not too far behind with a similar service of its own, potentially earning millions from a comprehensive data trove tracking customer locations, travel history, and web browsing habits for an undetermined length of time.

The Wall Street Journal reports shareholder demand for higher profits is pushing cell phone companies to find new revenue streams, even at the potential risk of alienating customers and privacy advocates.

PMI clients may find out more about you than you realize, even though phone companies promise they will not sell personally identifiable information about their customers.

The Phoenix Suns are PMI clients, and by tracking game attendees, Verizon Wireless was able to tell the sports team:

• 22% of game attendees are from out-of-town;
• Most spectators had children at home, ranged in age from 25-54 and earned more than $50,000 a year;
• 13% of baseball spring training attendees in the Phoenix area also went to Suns games;
• Area fast food restaurants running Suns promotions saw an 8.4% uptick in business from Verizon Wireless customers.

Such information can let the sports team target advertisers and offer evidence-based statistics that any campaign will increase sales, and by how much. Malls can use PMI to find certain types of customers that have a history of lingering in mall stores. Billboard owners can see if their ad messages resulted in higher in-store visits.

Customers using a phone under a commercial or government account are exempt from the tracking program. All residential customers are automatically opted in to take part, unless they specifically opt out.

Privacy advocates are concerned carriers are storing personal customer usage data for an undetermined amount of time, and in a form that could be personally identifiable, even if the provider decides not to sell data with that granularity to third parties. That could make cell phone companies prime targets for government/law enforcement subpoenas.

Last year, Verizon sent a notice to customers opting them in to the program unless they specifically opted out. Stop the Cap! covered the story back then, helping customers wishing to opt out.

[flv width=”504″ height=”300″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WSJ Cell Companies Track Customers 5-22-13.flv[/flv]

The Wall Street Journal reports wireless carriers were at first slow to sell data on their customers’ usage habits, but not anymore. Shareholders want new sources of revenue, and wireless companies are packaging and selling customer information to get it.  (2 minutes)

Triplett

A jury has found Comcast contractor Anthony Triplett guilty of first degree murder, aggravated sexual assault and robbery in the death of Comcast Cable customer Urszula Sakowska, 23, killed by Triplett in December 2006 when Comcast sent him to her home to work on her Internet service.

It was not the first time police investigated Triplett, who was also under scrutiny for possible involvement in an earlier homicide of Comcast customer Janice Ordidge, who was found strangled in her bathtub after Triplett was sent to install her cable television service.

Assistant district attorney Brian Sexton said Triplett got his thrills watching his victims suffer and die.

“As he strangles them, he looks them right in the eye and sees the light go out,” Sexton said.

Comcast had come under fire in the case because the cable operator permitted the contractor, Premiere Cable Communications, to continue to send Triplett on service calls even while he was under investigation by local police.

“I don’t understand how he was allowed to keep doing cable jobs after he was questioned regarding my sister,” said Loretta Shamley, the sister of Janice Ordidge.

Neighbors say the incident made them more wary of cable repairmen, some not directly employed by the cable company.

“I don’t even feel safe enough to take out the garbage anymore,” said Latia Warren, who lives two floors above Ordidge. “If I’m alone I won’t let a serviceman into my apartment unless he works for the building and I know him.”

A second trial on the death of Ordidge has not yet been scheduled.

Triplett faces up to life imprisonment.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WLS Chicago Cable Repairman Guilty 5-14-13.mp4[/flv]

WLS in Chicago reports a Comcast cable technician working for a third-party contracting firm was found guilty of murdering one customer and has alleged involvement in another homicide committed while doing service calls. (2 minutes)

Time Warner Cable executives got an earful last week from investors concerned about the amount of money the company is spending on lobbying activities, the lack of full disclosure on where that money is going, and the cable operator’s continued corporate support for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Among those attending the Time Warner Cable Annual Shareholder Meeting in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., was Tim Smith from Walden Asset Management, which owns 369,000 shares of the company.

Smith, along with 16 co-sponsors, introduced a proposal to force better disclosure of how their shareholder money was being spent on lobbying, noting Time Warner Cable paid close to $28 million on lobbying from 2008 to 2012.

“It’s interesting to note that Time Warner Cable’s spending on lobbying was almost five times the average of its peers,” Smith told the board of directors.

Smith noted that Time Warner Cable’s current quarterly disclosures were opaque and hard for the average person to understand and that the company provided almost no information on state lobbying, which he called a “big, big gap.”

Smith

“You [also] do not disclose details of the amount of dues to trade associations that engage in lobbying nor the portion used for lobbying,” Smith complained. “So for example, if a company is a member of the Business Roundtable or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, over 40% of those dues are spent on lobbying. So we think that is important to be a disclosed and in the public record.”

Smith noted that Time Warner Cable abandoned its financial support of The Heartland Institute, a Koch Brothers’ backed group that has argued for deregulation of the telecommunications industry, fought against Net Neutrality, and supports consumption billing and usage caps. A number of corporations stopped supporting the group after its corporate contribution list was leaked to the media in early 2012. Time Warner Cable told Walden Capital Management it dropped support of the group later that same year.

But Smith remained unhappy Time Warner Cable continues to support ALEC.

“Time Warner Cable’s continuing support for the American Legislative Exchange Council, which is called ALEC, is highly controversial and really we think it’s harmful to our brand,” Smith argued. “Right now, the American Legislative Exchange Council is working with The Heartland Institute, where we withdrew, working on a campaign around this country to try to stop renewable energy legislation and regulation. That’s our money at work, and we’re not dissenting. We’re not standing up and saying, ‘This is not Time Warner Cable.'”

CEO Glenn Britt claimed the lobbying expenses were important because Time Warner Cable is “a highly regulated company in a highly regulated industry” and that the company exercises “a value judgment” when it chooses to support third-party groups and lobbyists.

Britt also acknowledged ALEC’s extensive database of model, pre-written legislation suitable for introduction on the state level has proved very useful to Time Warner Cable in the past.

“[ALEC] is very helpful in creating a model legislation for all the states we do business in,” Britt said. “They’re particularly focused on telecom matters, which are highly complicated.”

As for other activities ALEC is involved with, such as opposing renewal energy initiatives for large fossil fuel energy companies, Britt said he does make Time Warner Cable’s views known on those issues.

“Quite honestly, if we thought the objectionable part of that outweighed the benefit, then we would consider leaving,” Britt said. “But it’s a constant balancing of that.”

“Although we fully understand the motivation […] the board recommends a vote against this proposal,” Britt concluded.

Time Warner Cable chose the prestigious Gideon Putnam Resort in Saratoga Springs for its annual shareholder meeting, where rooms run $400-800 a night.

Jim Voye from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), a union that owns about 575,000 shares of Time Warner Cable, also rose to introduce a proposal to limit a potential cash cow for executives in the event of a change in control at the company.

CEO Glenn Britt is widely expected to retire at the end of this year. When he does, he will be awarded more than $50 million in Time Warner Cable stock-based awards. That is on top of his targeted annual salary of $16 million.

Time Warner Cable’s CEO spent $400,000 of the company’s money traveling on the corporate executive jet.

In the event of such a change, many Time Warner Cable executives will qualify for accelerating vesting of their own equity awards, which the IBEW argues is an incentive to favor short-term improvements in company performance at the cost of long-term growth.

“The vital connection between pay and long-term performance can be severed when awards are paid out at an accelerated schedule,” Voye argued. “A change in control event should not provide an immediate or automatic economic windfall to planned participants, especially one that could incentivize executives to pursue transactions that are not in the best long-term interest of shareholders.”

Britt recommended a vote against that proposal as well.

During a question and answer section, Smith noted Britt spent $400,000 of the company’s money on corporate jet travel expenses.

Britt also acknowledged the cable industry’s business model has been largely the same across the country, and there is little to differentiate the financial results of one cable company over others.

“We, the cable companies all tend to look the same and I don’t think it’s going to be any different in this case,” Britt said.

Helderle

A Charter Cable technician from St. Charles, Mo. was convicted of tying up and sexually assaulting an O’Fallon customer after she reported him for asking her out in an unwanted text message.

Jurors deliberated for only about an hour before convicting 22-year old Michael Helderle on four felony counts, recommending a 75 year prison sentence.

Helderle was employed by Communications Unlimited, a contractor performing work on behalf of Charter Communications.

When the victim requested a service call from Charter on Dec. 4, Helderle showed up. He obtained her cell phone number and asked her out on a date later that evening. The victim reported the text message to Charter and Helderle was fired.

The next day, Helderle broke into her apartment while she was on a video chat with her boyfriend, who was 1,700 miles away on an Air Force base. He called authorities after witnessing Helderle in the apartment.

Helderle handcuffed and tied up the victim, gagged and sexually assaulted her, covering her with a pillow. He then stole her cell phone and cash. When police arrived, Helderle placed a knife to the victim’s throat and threatened her if she called out.

Helderle eventually escaped the apartment while police untied the victim. He was arrested hours later.

Charter defended its actions after the incident:

“Charter recognizes that it is a privilege to be allowed into customers’ homes to install our services. Our customer’s safety is of utmost importance and precautions are taken seriously. We require criminal background checks on all in-home contractors prior to performing any work for Charter.”

It was not enough to avoid offering Helderle employment.

Cable operators use third-party contractors to cut costs and sometimes limit liability. Critics contend third-party contractors often use lower standards of employment and compensate their workers at a considerably lower rate of pay with fewer benefits.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KSDK St Louis James Helderle charged with tying up woman 12-06-12.flv[/flv]

KSDK in St. Louis covered the break-in and sexual assault back in December in this video report.  (2 minutes)

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KSDK St Louis James Helderle convicted of burglary and sodomy 5-16-13.flv[/flv]

KSDK followed up on the story last week, noting the Charter Cable subcontractor was convicted of burglary and sodomy.  (2 minutes)