It was a surprise because the first time the FCC ever talked about net neutrality, the supposedly ISP-friendly guy came out on the right side. Pai has made his position clear: net neutrality blocks innovation and investment. He also doesn't seem to know what he's talking about all the time: https://www.techdirt.com/blog/netneutrality/articles/2015011...

> On the other hand, he and the Obama administration didn't do much to prevent mergers like Charter + TWC, etc.

The Charter/TWC deal was preceded by the (much more significant, if it had been successful) deal with Comcast and Time Warner Cable. The FCC did look into that, though the deal was called off before the FCC would have announced any action (if any at all) that they would take: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_purchase_of_Time_War...

Wheeler's lobbying days were decades ago. Pai's consistent anti-consumer, pro-industry approach on nearly every issue is incredibly recent.