SPOTLIGHT: The dark horse candidate for FCC Chairman

Among the possible candidates that have been batted around for Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman, Scott Blake Harris is most likely a dark horse among the former FCC staffers being considered for the position. But it won't be for lack of legal and street credibility.

The founder and Managing Partner of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP, Harris served as the FCC's international bureau chief from 1994 to 1996. Last year, Harris was named as one of the 10 leading communications lawyers by Legal Times (Hmm, could we have a Fierce 15 lawyers?), and his firm was listed as one of the top 5 telecom, broadcasting and satellite regulatory practices in the U.S. by Chambers USA - a publisher of guides for the legal professional. During the 2008 presidential race, Harris reportedly was a fundraiser and advisor to the Obama campaign.

Harris also represents the White Spaces Coalition, the trade group including Dell, Google, HP, Intel, Microsoft and Philips Electronics. The White Spaces Coalition has been fighting an uphill battle to gain approval for devices to take advantage of unused TV channel frequencies and recently won a victory; think of it as WiFi utilizing all those empty channels on your dial (If you remember what a dial on a TV was- Millennials will have to look it up on Wikipedia).

His firm also advises or represents Apple, Cisco, Vonage and Telcordia. However, it may be those same relationships that keep him out of the FCC Chairman's seat due to ethics policy considerations.

Blair Levine, the most often-dropped name for FCC Chairman, has been parked in the financial community as an analyst since 2001, so he doesn't have any messy lobbying entanglements to get grilled on by angry Republicans or devout Obama-ites.