Congratulations to State Rep. Tom Sloan for his vision and follow-through in bringing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell to Lawrence and Kansas University last week for the Kansas Rural Stakeholder Summit.

The gathering focused on the challenge of providing rural areas of the country new telecommunications technologies that would allow Internet access through radio waves, cable, satellites and existing electrical lines. Powell told attendees it was critical to extend broadband services into rural areas if these areas hoped to compete in the new world economy.

The FCC chairman said, “I can’t think of anything that is going to create greater job potential. Broadband isn’t a technology exercise; it is an economic exercise.”

He added that if rural areas could gain access to Internet technology and educate residents in how to use it, they could significantly slow the movement of technology jobs to foreign countries.

“I don’t see any reason we can’t outsource jobs to rural Kansas or rural Mississippi or Appalachia,” Powell said. The only negative to the statement is to suggest rural Kansas is in the same category as rural Mississippi or Appalachia.

When Sloan first proposed the idea of inviting Powell to a broadband conference at KU, many scoffed at the idea and said there was little chance Powell would accept such an invitation. This didn’t stop Sloan, who enlisted the help of some others. As a result, Powell eventually said he would be delighted to work in a stop in Kansas on his busy itinerary. Sloan pulled off quite a coup.

This is the type of thinking we need in Kansas if the state and its residents are to take advantage of opportunities to improve the state’s economy and quality of life. Sloan, a Lawrence Republican who represents the 45th District, said there was no reason Kansas couldn’t become a leader in the development and use of telecommunications and an FCC test site for various broadband applications.

Unfortunately, the area media focused as much, if not more, attention on the FCC’s role in censoring or monitoring questionable actions and language on television — particularly the highly debated halftime show at the recent Super Bowl game — as they did on the broadband question. Reporters asked Powell if and when the FCC might initiate a tougher stance concerning nudity, crude language and sexually explicit actions.

The summit attracted area telecommunications and cable system executives along with Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and several KU officials. It is hoped this gathering will be the start of a significant focus by the FCC on how Kansas could become a national leader in extending broadband technology to all parts of the state — urban and rural. As Powell said, “Broadband — high-speed, high-volume Internet usage — is a revolution and the great movement of our day.”

Why not make Kansas a leader in this revolution? Again, congratulations and thanks to Rep. Sloan.