David Goodfriend (born 1968) is an American attorney, political figure, and media commentator. He notably served as deputy White House staff secretary to

President Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the attor ...

and as a

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) advisor. A former telecommunications lawyer

Willkie Farr & Gallagher Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, commonly known as Willkie, is a white-shoe, international law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1888, the firm specializes in corporate practice and employs more than 1200 lawyers in 15 offices acros ...

, Goodfriend has remained active in the telecommunications field after leaving government, having joined satellite service company

EchoStar EchoStar Corporation is an American telecommunications company, specializing in satellite communication, wireless telecommunications, and internet services. Echostar also provides multichannel video programming and mobile services through its ...

in 2001.

Early life and education

Goodfriend graduated summa cum laude from

Beloit College Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1846 when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It has an enrollment of roughly 1,000 undergradua ...

in 1990. He received his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from the

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

. After law school, he became a telecoms lawyer at

Career

Government career

Goodfriend served as a staffer to Democratic U.S. Representative

Charles B. Rangel Charles Bernard Rangel ( ; June 11, 1930 – May 26, 2025) was an American politician who served as U.S. representative for districts in New York City for 46 years. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent ...

and Senator

Herb Kohl Herbert Hiken Kohl (February 7, 1935 – December 27, 2023) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and Democratic politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served 24 years as a United States senator from Wisconsin, from 1989 to 2013, and ...

. He went on to serve as deputy White House staff secretary in the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...

. Goodfriend was a legal advisor to Susan Ness, a member of the

er (FCC).

Post-government career

After leaving the FCC, he joined satellite service company

as the corporation's director of legal and business affairs. According to ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', this position allowed him to push for FCC regulations backed by the company, though he was not required to formally register as a lobbyist. Goodfriend was co-host of "Left Jab" on Sirius-

XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable ...

and has been a political contributor on

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

and

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

. Goodfriend was a co-founder and EVP/General Counsel of

Air America Radio Air America (formerly Air America Radio and Air America Media) was an American radio network specializing in progressive talk radio. It was on the air from March 2004 to January 2010. The network was founded as a left–wing alternative to coun ...

, and was Vice President of Law and Public Policy at DISH Network, EchoStar Satellite LLC (

DISH Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...

). Goodfriend is also the founder and chairman of Sports Fans Coalition, which calls itself a coalition of sports activists, fighting to give sports fans greater voice in public policy impacting professional and collegiate sports and has been criticized for its financial ties to the

ticket resale Ticket resale (also known as ticket scalping or ticket touting when done for profit) is the act of reselling ticket (admission), tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and then sold for a price determined by the i ...

industry. In 2023, Goodfriend represented the

Communications Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico). The union has 27 loc ...

(CWA) in their lawsuit against hedge fund

Standard General Standard General L.P. is an American hedge fund headquartered in New York City. It was founded in 2007 by Soohyung "Soo" Kim and Nicholas Singer with seed capital from Reservoir Capital Group. Since 2013, Soo Kim has been the Managing Partner and ...

's acquisition of media company

Tegna Inc. Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publ ...

Other clients of Goodfriend as of 2023 include

Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weathe ...

, Entertainment Studio Networks and Dish Network.

References

External links

Sports Fans Coalition Website
American activists American lawyers American political commentators American radio personalities Beloit College alumni 1968 births Living people People associated with Willkie Farr & Gallagher {{US-radio-bio-stub Georgetown University Law Center alumni