Ajit Pai is chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the government agency that regulates radio and television airwaves, cable TV, and internet. In other words, he has immense power.

President Trump appointed Pai to serve as chairman in January and Pai has quickly moved to advance the interests of big broadcasting companies and internet service providers at the expense of the public. Next month, the five-member FCC will vote on Pai’s proposal to roll back FCC rules limiting cable and internet service providers from charging more for their services.

Even Trump supporters should be appalled, says the reliably conservative Forbes magazine.

Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the protocols of the World Wide Web, is blunt: “The FCC under Ajit Pai has consistently chosen to sell out Americans for the profit of corporations.”

So who is this guy?

1. He’s from Kansas.

To Tom Frank’s plaintive query, “What’s the matter with Kansas?” one can only respond, Ajit Pai is the matter with Kansas. He grew up in Parsons, a small town near the Oklahoma border, where his parents were doctors.

Like his fellow Kansas conservatives Kris Kobach and Sam Brownback, Pai is a bland and intelligent fanatic. Unlike Kobach, he does not seem to be animated by xenophobia, just an odd passion for doing the bidding of a handful of internet service providers.

 2. He cultivates a humorous persona.

Pai likes to quote “The Big Lebowski” in his Twitter feed. He produces an oversize coffee mug at opportune moments in search of laughs.