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Old Dominion New Domain For High-Tech Politics
As Virginia pushes into the ranks of elite technology states, so its national political races are beginning to raise some of the same technology policy issues that have long been crucial in races in Silicon Valley. And the hottest race for those issues looks like that for U.S. Senate in 2000, where incumbent Democrat Chuck Robb faces a tough challenge from former Virginia Republican Governor George Allen.
In May, Robb was the subject of a scathing attack by the Chamber of Commerce, which questioned the lawmaker's commitment to Virginia's high-tech economy. The issue: Robb's failure to support a vote that would lead to consideration of the contentious Y2K litigation relief bill in the Senate.
"Senator Robb has so far refused to support this critical bipartisan Y2K legislation. That's terrible for the growing Virginia economy," the Chamber said in a release titled "Senator Robb 'Missing in Action' on Y2K bill" that was sent to Virginia media. The Chamber was co-chair of a large business coalition, including the high-tech community, which had been lobbying on the bill.
Allen grabbed the opportunity to use the Chamber's release as a tool to differentiate himself from the two-term Senator and to showcase his record on high-tech policy.
"George Allen brought unprecedented technology-related investment and jobs to Virginia….but one Senator — ironically Virginia's Chuck Robb — has threatened that progress with his votes against Virginia's interest on an important technology issue," Allen's campaign said in a statement.
In June, Robb voted for the Y2K legislation; his chief of staff, Tom Lehner, said the Chamber's attack was out of line. Lehner said Robb had been working all along behind the scenes to foster a compromise bill and was never opposed to the Y2K legislation. The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) both said Robb deserved credit for his work in trying to bridge a gap between Democrats and Republicans on the bill.
Business Sector Is Key
Clearly though, the exchange of harsh words was an indicator of the Senate race to come. With northern Virginia considered one of the nation's largest high-tech regions outside of California and the driver of the state's tremendous economic growth, the business sector's support would be key to both candidates in what is expected to be one of the most closely watched Senate races.
Like Silicon Valley, which can no longer ignore the California and national political process, northern Virginia's estimated 220,000 high-tech employees and companies have awoken to their local and national races. In the past year, the regions' businesses created CapNet, a bipartisan lobbying group, which is likely next year to hold fundraisers for state and national candidates of both parties.
As a result, both candidates are eager to portray themselves as friends of the industry.
"This will be the first time that high tech will weigh in on a Senate race in a major way. This (tech community) is the big prize and I think it is a true statement to say that it's up for grabs," said Mark Warner, managing director of Columbia Capitol, a venture capitol firm. Warner was a Democratic candidate for Senate and is likely to run for governor in 2001.
High-Tech Means Big Bucks
In particular, the prize is money. The race between Robb and Allen is expected to be very expensive, as are most national races today. Already Robb, seen as one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the Senate, is building a war chest whose reported minimum target is $7 million; he has raised $1 million in the first half of this year. Allen is already ahead of Robb in fundraising, though, with $2.5 million in his campaign treasury.
In parallel with the Bay Area, there is tremendous new wealth in the region, as the stock market has skyrocketed, expanding the fortunes of northern Virginians and their companies. Traditionally, northern Virginia, with its well-educated workforce and large numbers of government employees, has leaned, by a slim margin, Democrat, in a state that is broadly conservative Republican. (In every presidential race but one, the state has gone to a Republican candidate.)
But political analysts were uncertain about how newly wealthy high-tech Virginian's might cast their votes and dollars. On one hand, they are entrepreneurial, and therefore might lean more Republican, some strategists said. On the other hand, they are concerned about the environment and traffic congestion and gun control and might vote Democrat, others said.
"As a whole, the industry tends to be more bipartisan than partisan, and that comes from the fact that the high tech industry has a very strong dose of pragmatism," said Ed Black, president of Computer and Communications Industry Association, an industry group in Washington. "I think both candidates will have a challenge of convincing the community that they are empathetic, knowledgeable and effective."
Robb, Allen Have Close High-Tech Records
High-tech companies looking to Robb and Allen will find both have strong high-tech records — and, in fact, harbor nearly identical positions with respect to technology issues.
When he was a popular governor in the 1980's, Robb created the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) to foster high-tech research and development and received a 100 percent rating from the Information Technology Industry Council for supporting all the high tech issues in the 105th Congress important to the dozens of computer and equipment makers the group represents. He also has strong relationships with Virginia high-tech personalities like America Online CEO Steve Case, Mario Morino and BET Holdings Chairman Bob Johnson, who have all given money to Robb's campaign, Lehner said.
Allen was an equally popular governor, who also took an interest in fostering high-tech. During his tenure, he created a technology council and the state drew pledges of $13 billion in business investment mostly from high-tech. He convinced dozens of companies, like Motorola, Siemens, Ericsson, Toshiba, Gateway 2000 and Oracle to open branches in the state. As the need for an educated workforce was evident, Allen implemented student testing and school standards to improve the overall school accountability, a measure high-tech companies have said is desperately needed.
"I don't think the high-tech community is going to find an enemy in either Robb or Allen," said Mark Rozell, professor of politics at the Catholic University of America. "High-tech is largely taken as a matter of pride in Virginia politics. People are using phrasing about northern Virginia, like 'Silicon Valley of the East' and 'Silicon Dominion.' It is seen as an economic boon and candidates want to get on the right side of the industry."
In Congress, Robb has pushed making the R&D tax credit permanent, voted for the Y2K bill and is likely to support an increase in the cap on high-tech H-1B visas that companies said are necessary to ease current workforce shortages. He also supports a worker-training bill introduced by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-ND.
Allen is in the process of creating a technology leadership team, chaired by Tom Hewitt, CEO of Federal Sources, to advise his campaign and drum up high-tech support. Jay Timmons, spokesman for Allen's campaign, said the former governor would also be likely to support making the R&D tax credit permanent, lifting the H-1B visa cap and is advocating making the current three-year moratorium on Internet taxes permanent.
Allen, who currently leads Robb in the polls, plans to woo high tech by emphasizing his record in creating jobs and improving education and training and to note the Republican philosophy is more in tune with entrepreneurs. Alternately, Robb's plan is to differentiate himself by not only highlighting his record on high-tech issues but also on his broader kinship to taking a moderate approach to social and economic issues. Robb was one of the fathers of the Democratic Leadership Council, which moved the Democrats toward the middle and was eventually championed by Bill Clinton in 1992, Rozell said.
"This is going to be one of the most interesting races to see," said Pat McSweeney, a professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University and former chair of the Virginia Republican party.