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BSA President Secures Relationship
With Tech Industry Leaders
An ebullient Robert Holleyman said years of organizing Business Software Alliance meetings between the nation's top high-tech CEOs, members of Congress and the Clinton administration have paid off, allowing leaders to move beyond the "meet and greet" stage to discuss more substantive issues. BSA President Holleyman said there was a cementing of relationships between the CEOs and policy makers, when the executives came to Washington the week of June 5 to discuss their most important issues, including copyright protection and lifting the cap on H-1B visas. "Our members have been coming here for five years and now people know each other. It wasn't just meet and greet meetings, they were meatier. The relationships are longer-term and that led to a good discussion," Holleyman said in an interview. The executives, including Intel Chairman Andrew Grove and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates focused much of their discussion on boosting federal enforcement of copyright laws and promoting anti-piracy policy. Holleyman said the laws on the books are adequate for protecting intellectual property but more money and emphasis needs to be paid on prosecuting software pirates. "Piracy is like shoplifting in a store," Holleyman said.
James Smith, who helped launched the Republican leadership's GOP.gov has taken over as press secretary for the House Republican Conference. Smith already was running the communications information center for the conference and recently added press secretary to his list of responsibilities. "We see the Internet as a big part of our media communications strategy," Smith said. Prior to his GOP post, Smith wrote a column for National Journal's Web site, was a reporter in Cape Cod and wrote for another Massachusetts paper. In other GOP news, the National Republican Congressional Committee named Marit Babin as its new spokeswoman. Babin joined the NRCC staff last June as deputy press secretary. Previously, she served as House floor liaison for House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-TX.
AT&T appointed Michael Lamb as its first chief privacy officer Tuesday. Lamb will oversee the company's corporate-wide privacy policy and practices and work with government and industry leaders on privacy initiatives. Since 1995, Lamb has been chief counsel for AT&T WorldNet Service where he worked on Internet policy issues. "One of our top priorities is seeing that our privacy protections keep pace with our technological advances," said AT&T CEO C. Michael Armstrong in a statement.
More than 170 people gathered at the home of Cisco CEO John Chambers for a June 10 fundraiser to benefit the campaign of Republican California Assemblyman Jim Cunneen, who is running for Congress in the Silicon Valley seat left open by Rep. Tom Campbell, R-CA. Cunneen's campaign said the event raised $195,000. Those who attended included 3Com President Bruce Clafin and former Apple CEO Gil Amelio. Prior to holding state office, Cunneen was an executive at Applied Materials. "Jim Cunneen's record of accomplishment on technology, education and environmental issues is unmatched by any other state legislator," said Chambers, according to Cunneen's campaign.
Also supporting Cunneen were East Coast high-tech companies through their organization CapNet, which sent a $1,000 check to the candidate's event at Chamber's home. Tim Hugo, head of the DC-area lobbying group said having Cunneen in Congress would benefit everyone in the high tech industry. CapNet also will hold fundraisers for local high-tech leaders including a June 29 event for Virginia state Sen. Ed Schrock, R, who is running for the open VA-2 seat being vacated by Rep. Owen Pickett, D-VA, and Sen. Chuck Robb, D-VA, who is in a tough re-election fight against former Virginia Gov. George Allen, R. The group is also planning July fundraisers for Reps. Connie Morella, R-MD, Tom Davis, R-VA and Jim Moran, D-VA.
Meanwhile, Cunneen's opponent in the Silicon Valley race, Democratic State Assemblyman Mike Honda, will attend a "meet and greet" with high-tech leaders at the offices of Sun Microsystems on June 23. Honda, who was previously a San Jose school principal, has emphasized that he would work to improve quality of life issues, such as affordable housing in Silicon Valley. On Honda's Web site, the candidate also pledges to ensure that the high-tech industry has the support it needs to keep growing. "We must ensure that our businesses are staffed by the most talented and skilled employees. And we must ensure that our students learn the high-tech skills they'll need to compete for jobs in the 21st Century," Honda said in a statement.
After pursuing his law degree at night for the past three years, David Calabrese, director of international trade for the Electronic Industries Alliance has left the trade group to join the international trade practice at Dewey Ballantine. "I am excited about this opportunity with such a great firm. My duties will include work with EIA on international trade matters, as well as a variety of corporate legal affairs," Calabrese said in an e-mail to colleagues. Calabrese had been at EIA for 10 years working on a multitude of trade issues including NAFTA and the Export Administration Act.
About a year after 3Com said it planned to start a political action committee, the computer network equipment company officially filed to create a PAC on June 6. While 3Com formally opened its Washington, DC, office last year, the company's chief executive Eric Benhamou has been active in public policy and sits on the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, which advises the president on how, where and how much to spend on federal research and development money. In the past several months, 3Com has contributed to the grassroots high-tech lobbying effort to urge passage of permanent normal trade relations with China, with employees at the firm sending dozens of letters to Congress expressing their support for PNTR. The company's executives are also careful to remain bipartisan in its campaign giving. For example, 3Com's general counsel Mark Michael gave $1,000 to Sen. Spencer Abraham's, R-MI, re-election effort and $1,000 to Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records.
It's never too early to start thinking about the 2004 election cycle. Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid, D-NV, who isn't up for re-election until 2004, has started campaigning early. Last week, Reid raised about $35,000 at two fundraising meetings with officials from Oracle, Sun Microsystems, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, eBay, Yahoo, the Direct Marketing Association, the Information Technology Industry Council, Corning, Microsoft, Genentech, the National Association of Broadcasters, Ernst &Young and AT&T Wireless. Issues discussed included raising the caps on H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers, permanent normal trade relations with China and reforming current export controls.
Massachusetts' Lt. Gov. Jane Swift is flying to Silicon Valley this week to meet with lobbying group TechNet and its member companies. She plans to discuss privacy and other Internet issues, and work on the opening of a new TechNet branch office in Boston. TechNet has been expanding offices across the country, in Austin, Orange County, and Indianapolis, and plans to open new so-called "nodes" in Portland, OR, New York and Los Angeles. In early 2001, offices are planned for Colorado, Florida, Washington State, North Carolina, and Chicago. "By then we'll be truly a national network," said Eric Sklar, head of TechNet's membership.
Campaigns have been increasingly using the Internet to poke fun at their opponents this election cycle. The latest jab comes from the Republican National Committee, which is offering a compact disc and the ability to download 18 "missteps" made by Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Al Gore, including his comment to Wolf Blitzer on CNN that he invented the Internet. In a press release, RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson said there have been 3,000 downloads of Gore's blunders captured on television. Meanwhile, on Gore's Web site, the campaign features a "Debate Duck" time counter that calculates the days, hours and minutes that presidential opponent Texas Gov. George W. Bush has declined to debate Gore face-to-face.
America Online CEO Steve Case was among the 100 movers and shakers, including President Clinton, that attended last Thursday's $862,000 fundraiser for the re-election of Washington, DC, Mayor Anthony Williams. Others who attended included former Republican vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, former FBI and CIA Director William Webster, and CNN talk show host Bill Press. Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-KS, who is now president of the DC Federal City Council, also spoke at the event.
The National Business Coalition on E-Commerce and Privacy has named John Schall as its new executive director, National Journal magazine reported. The group, which was created in February, includes corporate giants such as DuPont, General Electric and Home Depot. It has lobbied on passage of digital signature legislation and has offered its input on the U.S.-European Union privacy directive's effect on U.S. businesses. Previously, Schall was executive director of the Project on the Advocacy of U.S. Interests Abroad, and was domestic policy adviser under former President George Bush. He also served as chief budget adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-KS, and chief of staff at the Labor Department.
The latest Internet and free speech scholar at the Cato Institute is Ronald Rotunda, former special consultant to independent counsel Kenneth Starr, National Journal magazine said. Rotunda is on leave from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and will be a constitutional studies fellow at Cato. He aims to broaden the public policy debate about biological weapons and free speech on the Internet, while continuing his academic work on constitutional law and legal ethics.
 | - by Bara Vaida |
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