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The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side
Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-MI, spent part of his Valentine's Day attending a round-table in Silicon Valley hosted by Hewlett-Packard and Oracle. Among the topics of discussion were cyberterrorism, Internet security and H-1B visas. Abraham recently introduced legislation in the Senate that would lift the cap on skilled foreign worker visas, which high-tech companies said would help with their chronic worker shortage. No fundraiser was involved, said Abraham spokesman Joe Davis.
"To do tech for a senator in California is very exciting," said Joe Hardy. "It's the Gold Coast." After three years of serving as senior legislative assistant to Rep. Adam Smith, D-WA, Hardy will transfer his allegiance to another West Cost Democrat, Barbara Boxer. "To have an opportunity to work in the Senate is something I always wanted to do," said Hardy, who will start his new position on Thursday. John Mulligan of M&R Research, a public relations company that does "basic lobbying," will replace Hardy on Feb. 28.
It's been a little more than a month since Lauren Maddox left the Hill to join high-tech lobbying firm Podesta.com. During that month, she's managed to get "more and more gray hairs everyday," she said. But the new principal of the firm, run by Tony Podesta (the brother of White House Chief of Staff John Podesta), added that despite the aging process, it's been an "a lot of fun." Working for Podesta.com has given Maddox the opportunity to do PR and lobbying "and work with a great bipartisan group of creative people…and brainstorm for other clients," she said. The result of some of these brainstorming sessions is the Feb. 15 launch of Grassroots.com. Maddox comes to Podesta.com from the House Republican Conference, where she worked with Rep. J.C Watts, OK, as communications director.
A former communications director for the presidential campaign of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, R, has taken on a new position at the National Cable Television Association. After reorganizing its public affairs office, NCTA has tapped David Beckwith to be its vice president of communications. Prior to working with the Bush campaign, Beckwith served under the Bush administration as Vice President Dan Quayle's press secretary and as communications director for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-TX. The former Executive Vice President of the Cable Telecommunications Association, Jim Ewalt, has been appointed NCTA's vice president of public affairs. Ewalt will oversee projects such as "Cable's High Speed Education Connection," an industry initiative to offer high-speed Internet connections to schools and libraries.
Oregonians have a new commission that aims to look out for their best interests in the Internet age. Gov. John Kitzhaber, D, has announced appointments to the Oregon Internet Commission created to chart Oregon's Internet history and rate its position in the new economy. "Right now it has been a challenge for the rural parts of the state to be connected and feel that they belong. They feel left out of the state," said Kitzhaber spokeswoman Lorna Hobbs. The commission plans to focus on education and workforce training, getting Oregonians Internet access and ensuring that businesses thrive as a result of the new economy. The group's inaugural meeting is scheduled for March 10. Commission members chosen from the private sector include Microsoft's Vice President of Sales Bill Henningsgaard and Jim Johnson, an Intel vice president. Representing the government are Don Mazziotti, Oregon chief information officer, and Hardy Myers, Oregon attorney general, among others.
Gov. Lincoln Almond, R, established the Telecommunications Task Force to bolster Rhode Island's competitiveness in the telecom industry. The commission's charge is to review the state's telecom industry and design a legislative and regulatory agenda by Nov. 1, with the ultimate goal of creating an appealing location for telecom providers and companies. Among those comprising the 16-member panel are Rick Kovar, executive director of the Rhode Island Technology Council, Julie Erickson of Qwest Communications, John Kent of Bell Atlantic and Jennifer Johns of Cox Communications.
A number of new names and faces will be popping up at Network Solutions Inc. as the domain name registrar announced a full cast of company players. Roger Cochetti joins as senior vice president and chief policy officer from IBM, where he had been program director of Internet Policy and Business Planning. Michael Kyle has been named vice president of customer service; Shelton Shugar, v.p. of engineering; Tom van Gorder, v.p .of sales and business development. Internal appointments at NSI include Adam Zimmerman as vice president of registry business operations and Ari Balogh, v.p. of engineering. The former head of the business affairs office, Dave Graves, has been upped to vice president of corporate administration. Graves now will be responsible for overseeing policy agreements such as those between NSI and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Mark Kosters, another NSI veteran , has been promoted to vice president of research in the chief technology division.
While the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce remains embroiled in the issue of Internet taxation, a newsletter has given the commission kudos for its "informative and well-maintained" Web site. MuniNet Guide & Review ranked the commission's site first in the e-commerce category of the top sites of 1999.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is looking for a few good men and women to be recognized for their understanding of the social, legal and technical issues that challenge the information technology industry. Chairing the ninth annual International EFF Pioneer Awards in Toronto on April 6 will be Dave Farber, Federal Communications Commission chief technologist and EFF board member. Other judges this year include Moira Bunn of NPR's Tech Nation, Larry Irving, CEO of UrbanMagic.com, and Tara Lemmey, executive director of EFF.
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 | - by Jessica Smith |
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