Ex-Newt Gingrich spokeswoman Christina Martin, will be the new communications V.P. at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. Martin's new job starts Mar. 1. Martin joined Gingrich's staff in 1997 after serving as deputy press secretary to Dole/Kemp '96. She also has experience doing press for ex-Gov. Terry Branstad R-IA and ex-Rep. Michael Huffington R-CA.

    The National Association of Manufacturers has chosen Michael Baroody to head its lobbying shop, ousting longtime head Paul Huard. Director of Corporate Communications Rob Schwarzwalder says the coup was not an effort to make NAM's lobbying more aggressive. Huard moves to the post of executive vice president for finance and management. Baroody has been increasing his role of late, often joining Huard at gatherings of the now-dead Thursday Group of lobbyists that regularly talked up Rep. John Boehner R-OH, the GOP conference chairman. Baroody has been a NAM lobbyist since 1980, except for a brief tenure at a now-defunct GOP policy group.

    Mike Hirshland is leaving the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee to move to Intel's government affairs office. Intel, of course, is gearing up for both courtroom and PR battles inside the Beltway as the Federal Trade Commission's suit against the chip maker commences.

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation has picked Tara Lemmey, a technology and marketing expert with close ties to both Silicon Valley and Washington, as its new executive director. Lemmey's task is to raise funds, increase membership, and build the EFF's clout inside the Beltway. "Tara is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the issues that EFF has always held as basic tenets, from free speech to privacy to IP," EFF chairman Lori Fena said in a statement. "She has demonstrated that knowledge as both an entrepreneurial CEO, as well as a private citizen."

    Elias Cortez is the new head of California's Department of Information Technology. Cortez has served as San Bernardino County's chief information officer since 1997, after a six-year stint as the Los Angeles Unified School District's director of information systems. Cortez replaces John Thomas Flynn, who resigned to take a position as vice president with Litton/PRC.

    Gov. Gray Davis D-CA has formed a Y2K Compliance Team for the nation's most populous state. Acting Chief Deputy Director of the Department of Information Technology Robert Dell'Agostino and Deputy Director Christina A. Polley of the Department of General Services will work with new CIO Cortez on Y2K, pending Cortez's confirmation by the state senate.

    Highway 1 founder Kimberly Jenkins wrote in to tell us that Michael T. Hernon, who has served as a municipal Chief Information Officer and an adviser to local governments on technology policy, will replace Jenkins as Highway 1's president. Jenkins stays on as chairman. Highway 1 is a resource organization providing information on emerging technologies for policy makers.

    Free software pioneer Bruce Perens has resigned from the Open Source Initiative, saying that the open source movement, most visible in Linux's upstart threat to Microsoft, must remember that it is about free software, not simply source code available to everyone for their own profit. Perens announced his resignation in a widely-disseminated e-mail message.

    U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky thinks there's verse among the vibes online. Pinsky is spearheading the Library of Congress' Favorite Poem Project, a part of the library's bicentennial commemmoration. Pinsky, working with the New England Foundation for the Arts and Boston University, is recording Americans both famous and obscure reading their favorite poems. The reading will be digitized for the Library of Congress.

    Buzz? Rumors? Hate mail? Self-promotion? Fire it off to Peter J.M. Orvetti.