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It's My Party And I'll Lobby If I Want To
Gary Fazzino, vice president of government and public affairs, at Hewlett-Packard, joked that at some point during the Democrat convention in Los Angeles, he realized the point of the conventions was to get invited to the best party.
"I discovered that the most important activity of the convention's week is to score the best ticket," said Fazzino, who is former mayor of Palo Alto, CA, and served as TechNet's first chief executive. Fazzino, who went to both conventions, scored invitations to some of the hottest parties, including the Democratic National Committee fundraiser where Barbara Streisand sang in tribute to presidential nominee Al Gore.
Never mind policy. For the industry's first serious foray into the political pep rally scene, known as the conventions, industry lobbyists, and even a few CEOs found their most productive time, was going to receptions and parties.
"Immigration, privacy, Microsoft and tax didn't emerge from my lips during the conventions," said Ken Glueck, Oracle senior director of government affairs, which co-sponsored a few parties at both conventions. "And people there didn't want to talk about it either."
When East Meets West
However, it's not easy to decide which convention had better parties. Very few representatives from the industry went to both conventions, so most couldn't compare. And, in the spirit of the high-tech industry's fierce bipartisan tone, those who traveled to both cities said each convention had benefits.
Glueck said he had more fun in Philadelphia. But he noted there was a high-tech party sponsored by TechNet in Los Angeles, which was lacking at the GOP convention. Fazzino thought high-tech executives partied more in Hollywood than Philadelphia. While others said there was no difference between the two conventions, because both have embraced the industry.
"Both (political) parties gave us some credence by putting on events and giving us space and time to show up at high-tech events," said Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association.
There were more high-tech events, policy panels and parties for high-tech industry executives to attend in Los Angeles than in Philadelphia. The crop of parties largely was due to the work of the New Democrat Network (NDN), co-founded by the Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-CT.
Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrats, has worked for four years to build ties with the high-tech community and coordinated the group's efforts with TechNet's Democratic director, Jeff Modisett.
High Tech Talks Policy
The result was two high-tech panels that brought together top executives from the industry. Novell's Eric Schmidt, Marimba's Kim Polese, Intuit's Scott Cook, and members of Congress and state government officials discussed policy issues such as immigration, education and the digital divide. Former Federal Communications Commissioner Reed Hundt gave an impassioned speech about Gore and telecom and why the vice president was the right man for the new economy.
"This is unprecedented, at a convention, to have a substantive policy discussion," said former U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, who moderated one of the panels.
Then there were two parties put together by the New Democrats, one co-sponsored by TechNet at the hip "Garden of Eden" bar in Hollywood, and another at the private Beverly Hills home of TV producer David Salzman. Technology executives were invited to both.
In contrast, in Philadelphia, TechNet co-sponsored a sparsely attended afternoon high-tech reception the Sunday prior to the beginning of the convention and a high-tech policy panel for Republican youth on a Tuesday afternoon. Few in the industry attended the panel, though a number of teenage and twenty-something Republicans came to hear some advice from venture capitalists Kathy Behrens and Floyd Kvamme.
"I wish we had an NDN," lamented one Republican high-tech lobbyist.
Dems Not A Clear Winner For High-Tech Hearts
But Democrats weren't necessarily the clear winner when it came to high-tech. Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush extensively reached out to the high-tech community to include their ideas into the party's platform. Additionally, Internet entrepreneurs Proxicom CEO Raul Fernandez and pcOrder.com President Christina Jones each gave one minute speeches on why Bush should lead the new economy.
"I'd have to give the edge to Republicans for reaching out to the high-tech community during the platform drafting process…The Democrats weren't as inclusive," said David McCurdy, a former Democrat representative from Oklahoma and now president of the Electronic Industries Alliance, who attended both conventions.
In Los Angeles Monday, there was an on-stage forum about the economy, but the new economy wasn't even on the agenda. Gore's speech barely touched on the Internet industry and his running mate Lieberman made no references to the new economy, surprising some given Lieberman's ties to the New Democrats.
Bush didn't mention the high-tech economy either, except to jab opponent Vice President Al Gore for alleging he invented the Internet. Still, Bush talked about deregulation, opening international markets and cutting taxes, all key to the high-tech industry. Gore focused on regulating the environment and the healthcare and prescription drug industries.
"I don't think either candidate needed to talk about the new economy because both candidates are pretty much in the same place on that," said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America. "Both Bush and Gore are appealing to voters on different issues and not on high tech."
Internet Media Lives Large In L.A.
On a totally separate track from lobbying, the Internet media presence was greater in Los Angeles. There were 120 Internet advocacy and media organizations that crowded the giant L.A. Convention Center, but 35 Internet media companies set up shop in Philadelphia. Convention organizers said there were fewer Internet companies in Philadelphia because the distance was greater for advocacy groups and Internet companies to travel.
For instance, the Pew Charitable Trusts gave a $1.3 million grant to the University of Southern California to craft guidelines for "best practices" on covering the convention. Given the convention was going to be in Los Angeles, USC decided to use a part of its grant to fund "Democracy Row" for dozens of Internet advocacy groups to showcase their wares at the L.A. convention.
"We didn't think it was worth the cost of doing both conventions," said a Pew spokesman.
There also was much hype about America Online, Pseudo.com, Grassroots.com, Speakout.com and Voter.com, all offering greater convention coverage than the networks, but in Philadelphia and L.A., not many went to the Web to read about the convention. According to Media Metrix, 392,000 unique visitors went to Republican Web sites during the GOP convention, while Democratic sites received 201,000 unique visitors during that party's convention.
"It doesn't surprise me. Who would want to pay attention to a ballgame when you already know the winner?" said Guy Kawasaki, CEO of Garage.com, of the small numbers of people using the Web to get convention information.
 | - by Bara Vaida |
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