Meanwhile, on Aug. 12, the Information Technology Industry Council is flying Democrat staffers from both chambers out to Silicon Valley for a three-day visit eight of their member computer manufacturing and equipment companies. The trip is focused on educating staff on what the companies do and what legislative and business policy issues are important to the industry. On Aug. 29, ITI will repeat the three-day trip for Republican staff. Technology Network, Silicon Valley's bipartisan lobbying group, is putting together a breakfast and lunch policy briefing on Aug. 16 for Rep. Amo Houghton, R-NY, and Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-CT, and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-ME. The events will take place at Intel and National Semiconductor, respectively. Later on the 16th, TechNet is hosting a fundraiser for Snowe. On Aug. 23, TechNet is facilitating a fundraiser for Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-NE, at the home of Chris Larsen, CEO of E-Loan, in San Francisco. On Aug. 26, the lobbying group is hosting a lunch for Sen. Bob Bennett, R-UT, where Bennett is expected to talk about Y2K and the research and development tax credit. Also on Aug. 26, TechNet is hosting a policy luncheon for Senate Commerce Committee Chairman and Republican presidential aspirant John McCain, R-AZ.

     Sue Hofer, senior advisor for communications at the Commerce Department's Bureau of Export Administration, is trading in her job dealing with encryption and high-performance computers for beaches, parks and the zoo. After six years at the Commerce Department, Hofer is leaving her post to become the press secretary for the Chicago Park District, which operates Chicago's beaches, the city zoo, city parks and Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears professional football team. Hofer, who hails from the Windy City, has been with the Commerce Department since 1993. She has worked for the Bureau of Export Administration for the past three years where she has been charged with helping to explain Clinton Administration policy on thorny issues such as encryption export controls and the transfer of satellite technology to China. Hofer's last day at the Commerce Department is Friday. She will start her new job after Labor Day. When asked why she was leaving Washington, Hofer said "I'm ready to go home."

     Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, R, appointed Paul Quade as the state's first chief information officer. As of Sept 1., Quade will head the state's Office of Innovation and Technology under a "loaned executive" program with Galileo International, a provider of information technology services to the travel industry, where he currently is a senior information technology executive. The appointment comes at a time when the office appears to desperately need a makeover. With 17 different departments that each dance to the beat of its own drummer, the office has found itself in need of a restructuring. "They do their own thing, and they don't coordinate with each other," said spokesman Alan Philp. "Each department assumed its own agenda for IT." Quade also will be responsible for creating a better working environment for state workers. "We have systems that don't communicate with each other in software and hardware departments," Philp said. "There is no coordination, and we are not using our resources to our best." Philp also noted that the state is losing a lot of qualified employees to the private sector because they are frustrated about the "disjointed and disparate" IT procurement and policies in the state. Quade also will assist in bringing Colorado's government into the state's recently announced e-commerce initiative.

     When a citizen e-mailed the office of Los Angeles councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski asking why the the city's Web site didn't provide greater access for Spanish speaking people, when it provides ballot information in other languages, Miscikowski took action. The councilwoman filed a motion directing the city's Information Technology Agency to make key sites like those of the police, fire and housing departments accessible to LA's growing non-English speaking population. With nearly 85 languages spoken in the city, only one is represented on the official site, says spokesman Glenn Barr. "Obviously we aren't going to address 1 percent of the community that speaks a certain language," Barr said. But accommodating the 40 percent of Spanish speakers is a top priority. The office is looking into the most cost effective way to remedy the situation. The bill was amended Friday with additional input from Sharon Morris, general manager of the Department of Disabilities, to include a feature for people with visual and learning disabilities. Miscikowski also filed a motion to explore the possibility of using real time streaming of audio, video and text at council meetings. "Rather than have people clog the freeways and get on buses, they can go to the library and participate via video teleconference," Philp said. "It's almost as good as being there."

     The World Intellectual Property Organization has found a group of supporters in three former U.S. government officials who have formed the U.S. Committee for WIPO. Bruce Lehman, Gerald Mossinghoff and Ralph Oman organized the committee to raise awareness of what the organization does. Lehman and Gerald have both held the positions of assistant secretary of commerce as well as commissioner of patents and trademarks. "There is very little public understanding of the very important impact that [WIPO] has on the core of export... The committee defends and educates people on intellectual property," said Lehman. "Educates both the technology community and other sects of the use of WIPO as a non governmental vehicle to convey the interest of the U.S. Individuals, companies, industry groups, law firms, law and graduate schools, bar, trade and professional associations are welcome to join the committee.

     Serving Commissioner Susan Ness for more than five years, Jim Casserly left his post as senior adviser Friday. But Ness already has tapped Mark D. Schneider to step into the job. As of Sept. 1, Schneider will provide support on a number of issues facing the commission as well as serve as Ness's principal press contact. Schneider is currently a partner with Sidley & Austin, an international law firm. Casserly went to the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo.

     Compaq Computer's newly created e-commerce unit, has a newly appointed vice president in Flint Brenton. The development of the department is Compaq's attempt to get the company to do more business via the Internet. As head of the e-commerce department, Brenton will be responsible for managing the company's numerous activities including the Compaq.com Web site.

     Sun Microsystems announced that the recently appointed head of the newly created software division, Alan Baratz, resigned to take a position at an investment bank. For three years Baratz presided over Java software, managing Sun's efforts to commercialize Sun's Java programming language. Baratz will join E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., an affiliate of the investment firm, as a managing director and will join the company's information technology team. He will remain with Sun until mid-August. The vice president of Sun's Java platform business, Jon Kannegaard, will take on the role of acting division president.

     A report in London's Sunday Times has Microsoft's Bill Gates and his wife Melinda speaking out (through their press person) about what they are not planning to do with their billions. After Gates' father, William H. Gates II, told a reporter that the Gates were planning on giving away the gross majority of their money to philanthropy, the reporter "mistook that this was going to happen tomorrow," said a Microsoft spokesman. While Gates and his wife are on record "that they plan on giving away the vast majority of their wealth," they "have no imminent plans to give away the entirety of their wealth," said spokesman Trevor Neilson in a statement.

     Retired Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway will be paring up with JWGenesis Financial, which provides financial services to individuals and businesses, to form an Internet company devoted to two things he should be quite familiar with: sports and fitness. Elway and JWGenesis financial executives will be in New York this week to promote their company MVP.com. The company is scheduled to launch at this year's Super Bowl in Atlanta.

    Send comments and contributions to Jessica Smith.