Sascha Meinrath, one of New America’s telecommunications wonks, has taken a dim view of FCC commissioner nominee Mignon Clyburn. “A Disaster for the Public Interest?” is the title of his blog post and he says everyone he’s talked to has been deeply concerned that Ms. Clyburn is too much in thrall with the big phone companies and having her around will prevent any meaningful telecom reforms.

Apparently, Sascha and his buds on the Obama transition Technology, Media, & Telecom advisory committee were looking forward to a lot of reform once the new FCC was in place, but appointing Clyburn appares to be a classic Washington politics move.  It can’t be a good thing that cable and broadcast are both enthused for her nomination and there’s very little on the public record discussing Ms. Clyburn’s positions on key telecom issues, says Sascha, not to mention her lack of experience in the area and the word on the street that she couldn’t land a job at the Department of Energy.

Be interesting to see how this plays out against the larger backdrop of the delays in getting Mr G.,Julius Genachowski, up to his confirmation hearing as FCC Chairman due to Republican gamesmanship while they try to figure out who they want to nominate for their Chairman slots.