Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Asking about non-politicians on the face of it seems pointless" Except that the tone of your post implies: Republicans="evil rich people" Democrats="good folks looking out for the average Joe" I don't believe it is anywhere near that simple. It was not at all clear to me that your original post was referring to FCC regulators alone. It would have been better if that would have been explicitly stated at the outset.
I said from the outset exactly what I meant to say, and subsequently offered a qualification for upon request. Unequivocally today's Republicans are heavily weighted, not exclusive, toward classism. It is a good and proper thing that there are rich, middle, and poor. People are different, egalitarianism is P.C. nonsense, and the classes should be preserved. People aren't equal. Better people have more wealth, wealth…
The problem is the Democrats do the same thing just on different issues.
Republicans are in the pocket of oil companies, ISPs, agribusiness and defense contractors. Democrats are in the pocket of Hollywood, lawyers, HMOs, public sector unions and, let's face it, tech companies. They're both in the pocket of Wall St.
The idea that one of them is overall worse rather than worse for a specific industry is belied by the fact that they each get ~50% of the votes.
The problem is sometimes, like with Network Neutrality, there are objectively worse and objectively better overall alternatives, but those alternatives line up across party lines. So when the Republicans get in they try to destroy network neutrality and when the Democrats get in they try to pass SOPA and negotiate the TPP.
The key is to recognize that candidates matter more than parties. Zoe Lofgren and Diane Feinstein are both California Democrats, but what a difference.