Hightower Lowdown

In case you have any doubt that corporations will always protect their privateprofit interests at the expense of the public interest, consider the stealth lobbying campaign that giant phone companies and cable providers are waging in state legislatures.

Local governments in cities from San Francisco to Philadelphia and in small towns from Spanish Fork, Utah, to Kurtztown, Pennsylvania, have launched programs to guarantee universal high-speed internet access to their people and small businesses. "We didn't want to be a second-class city," says an official in Spanish Fork.

Good for them—enterprising public leadership has always helped America advance. But now Verizon, SBC, Comcast, and Bell South have unleashed their lobbyists to strong-arm state legislators all across the country to make it illegal for local governments to provide this essential service. Government has no business in their business, they say.

But city officials and consumer advocates point out that corporations have no interest in providing service in rural areas and lowerincome neighborhoods and charge fees that are usually beyond the reach of regular folks. If these aloof, faraway giants won't provide the service that everyone needs, then the locals must...and will.

To join the grassroots movement for universal access, contact Consumers Union: www.hearusnow.org or 202-462-6262.