Obama crony wins contract to give phones to jobless

A cellphone company whose top executive has close ties to President Obama lobbied for and won a piece of a major new government push to provide Internet service to low-income job-seekers, even though critics say the company’s smartphones are poorly suited to the task of helping those in the program find work.

The program’s supporters tout it as a way for the unemployed to learn technical skills, to prepare resumes and to search for jobs, but one of the 14 pilot contracts that the FCC awarded went to Miami-based TracFone Wireless Inc.

TracFone CEO F.J. Pollak has been a frequent White House visitor and his wife Abigail has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for both Mr. Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns.

And although TracFone had originally lobbied for the program, critics say its contract would not provide recipients with skills-boosting computers and services, but would supply high-end Android phones, ready to play games and browse Facebook but doing little in the way of getting a job.

Other companies selected to provide Internet service noted that merely allowing viewers to use apps such as Twitter and run simple Google searches on a small phone screen didn’t meet the spirit of the program’s intent, which included goals of “increasing digital literacy and use of the Internet [to] help bridge the skills gap [and] reduce job search discouragement.”

“The small screen, keyboard and perhaps connectivity issues make it harder for smartphone-only users to engage as deeply with the Internet as home broadband users,” wrote John B. Horrigan of the Partnership for Connected Illinois, which will provide DSL hookups and computer hardware for the poor in that state.

Rep. Tim Griffin, Arkansas Republican, said the cellphone spectrum is poorly suited to be a user’s primary Internet portal and that any resume tapped out with two fingers on a cellphone screen would be sure to be sloppy.

Mr. Griffin opposes the expansion, but TracFone’s proposal to meet the requirements in the form of a high-end cellphone rather than a workhorse desktop connection is an “outrage,” he said.

Billionaire backing

TracFone is a subsidiary of Mexico’s American Movil, part of the corporate empire of billionaire entrepreneur Carlos Slim, often listed as the world’s richest man. The company denies that it engaged in improper lobbying or exploiting the Pollaks’ political and social connections to Mr. Obama.

Mrs. Pollak is listed as one of 230 fundraisers to have brought in the better part of $1 million for the president’s 2012 campaign, and did the same in 2008.

Mr. Pollak has visited the White House numerous times, including for public gatherings such as the Easter Egg Roll and a Cinco de Mayo party, said Jose Fuentes, a spokesman for America Movil.

“That has absolutely nothing to do with business. There’s been no pay-for-play — or even favors. What he does in his private time is his,” he said.

“Broadband is critical these days to have access to online tools for jobs. The old days of mailing your resumes are over,” Mr. Fuentes said.

Asked whether a smartphone is the best way to compose and send a professional resume, he pointed to the exploratory nature of the program.

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