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Microsoft Celebrates Its Silver Anniversary; Fundraisers Galore
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $600,000 at a fundraiser in Silicon Valley last Friday at an event hosted by Michael Levinthal, partner in the Mayfield Fund and John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. Ten Senate Democrats attended: Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, SD, Ron Wyden, OR, Robert Torricelli, NJ, Barbara Boxer, CA, Harry Reid, NV, Jack Reid, RI, Evan Bayh, IN, Byron Dorgan, ND, Tom Harkin, IA, and Chuck Schumer, NY. The members also visited Cisco, Tell me Networks and Kleiner Perkins' offices. The fundraiser was part of the outreach program the Senate Democrats developed late last year to reach out to the high-tech community. President Clinton this Friday is scheduled to attend a DSCC high-tech fundraising lunch in Northern Virginia that is expected to raise about $300,000. Later that day, he is scheduled to fly to Boston to attend another DSCC high-tech fundraiser that is expected to raise $500,000.
Olivia Morgan, the director of the Washington, DC, office for California Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, is leaving after two years to join a DC-based public affairs and public relations firm. Previously, Morgan previously served as Lieutenant Governor Davis’ press secretary in Sacramento. Morgan will continue to work with the Washington office through a transitional period this fall, when a full-time director will be appointed. One of Morgan’s key roles during her tenure has been to serve as a liaison for Davis to other governors, as well as federally elected officials. She will continue to serve Davis in that capacity, and will assume the role of chief adviser to the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association when Davis becomes chairman in December.
House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-CA, and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Davis, D-VA, were among the members of Congress that stopped by Microsoft's 25th anniversary party last Tuesday evening at Les Halles. Guests, which included lobbyists from Haley Barbour, the Digital Media Association and staff from Capitol Hill, snacked on sardines, pate and other French hors d'ouvres. Media from Technology Daily, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post also attended. Microsoft Senior Vice President of Advanced Strategies Craig Mundie, one of a handful of senior Microsoft executives that report directly to Chairman Bill Gates, also was in town to celebrate the company's anniversary. BSMG Worldwide Managing Director Howard Opinsky, who was spokesman for Sen. John McCain's, R-AZ, presidential campaign also was at the party. Microsoft is now a BSMG client.
The Internet and politics culture in Washington, DC, has grown big enough to become a thesis project. Northwestern University student Philip Howard is making the rounds in the Internet and politics community to gather research for his sociology thesis paper on how electronic democracy is changing politics. "I hypothesize that the new electronic democracy improves responsibility, transparency, and dispute resolution mechanisms in large political organizations, will cause a long-term 'motor-voter effect' on political discourse, will close the ingenuity gap between political parties, and bring about a process of ideological binding between constituents and candidates," Howard said in an abstract of his research proposal.
Social Security Administration Chief Information Officer John Dyer has stepped down as CIO to become senior adviser to SSA commissioner Ken Apfel, Federal Computer Week reported. In that capacity, Dyer is to develop a strategic plan that sets the agency’s customer service priorities. While the agency searches for a permanent replacement for Dyer, Marsha Rydstrom, who has worked for SSA operations, as acting CIO last week. Dyer was one of three senior information officers on the Electronic Government Committee, created by the CIO Council to work on projects ranging from the government’s use of smart cards to enabling the use of public and private keys for Internet security.
According to lobbying papers filed with the Senate, Atlanta-based WebMD has hired a Washington lobbyist, Patrick Murphy to lobby on computer issues. Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering have been hired by Dell Computer to lobby on pending Federal Communications Commission wireless policy. Perkins Coie has been hired by Avenue A, an Internet online marketing company, to lobby on privacy and computer security issues. Ariba hired Hill & Knowlton to handle public affairs related to computer operability issues.
Chad "Elvis" Oxley, son of Rep. Mike Oxley, R-OH, has become Alcatel USA's marketing manager. Alcatel is the largest shareholder in satellite Internet service provider Skybridge, Internet Daily reported. Rep. Oxley has been a supporter of a measure pushed by Skybridge that would require the Federal Communications Commission to determine that Northpoint Technology would interfere with satellite companies such as DirecTV, EchoStar and Skybridge.
House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts, R-OK, unveiled a new Internet radio function on the conference's GOP.gov Web site. The system enables members of Congress to record statements on any issue and makes them simultaneously available over the Internet via GOP.gov. "The Internet allows the public to access comprehensive information on every legislative issue. We hope, as members of Congress, that this new tool will help to meet the public's desire for thorough and unfiltered explanations of our policies," said Watts.
Hassett, Cohen, Goldstein and Port partner Rob Hassett has been re-appointed chairman of the Subcommittee on Policies for Managing Generic Top Level Domains, a part of the Intellectual Property Law Section of the American Bar Association. Hassett, whose firm is based in Atlanta, has been editor of the Internet and Multimedia volume of Matthew Bender's 10-volume book on Entertainment Law Contracts, and his firm publishes the Internet Legal Report.
Media Metrix, an Internet measurement company, estimates that 88 percent of Web users 18 and older plan to vote in this year's elections, compared to 55.7 percent who reported voting in federal, state or local elections in 1999. In addition, men represented 41.1 percent of all Republicans online compared to 32.6 percent women. Men also constituted the majority of visitors to political-party, candidate and political-news sites. Media Metrix also said Americans age 50 and older represent the most politically-inclined group online, with 96.1 percent planning to vote this year, compared to 75.6 percent last year. In addition, candidate sites Georgewbush.com and Algore2000.com draw a nearly equal percentage of their traffic from persons with household incomes of less than $25,000 and more than $100,000, Algore2000.com draws a higher percentage of Web users with a household income between $25,000 and $59,999 (42.2 percent for Algore2000.com versus 34.9 percent for Georgewbush.com). Meanwhile, Georgewbush.com draws a higher percentage of Web users with a household income between $60,000 and $99,999 (37.0 percent for Georgewbush.com compared to 29.4 percent for Algore2000.com).
America Online named Joseph Ripp chief financial officer following completion of the planned merger between AOL and Time Warner. Ripp currently is executive vice president and chief financial officer of Time Warner. Ripp will report to Barry Schuler, president of AOL Interactive Services, who, as previously announced, will become chairman and chief executive officer of America Online when the merger with Time Warner is completed. As previously announced, J. Michael Kelly, currently AOL's chief financial officer, will become CFO and executive vice president of AOL Time Warner.
Longtime Compaq Computer Chairman Ben Rosen, who played a key role in ushering in the age of personal computing, said goodbye to the company last Thursday in an emotional ceremony marking his retirement and replacement as chairman by chief executive Michael Capellas, Reuters reported. On Sept. 28, Compaq said President and Chief Executive Officer Capellas had added the title of chairman, effective immediately, and Rosen would retire. Rosen, 67, fought back tears as he spoke about the accomplishments of Compaq from its start in 1982 as an idea sketched on a restaurant placemat to its status today as the world's largest personal computer maker.
The focus is on money in the race to fill the U.S. House seat representing San Jose, CA. Republican candidate Jim Cunneen’s camp is lambasting Democratic opponent Mike Honda after a Sept. 30th Federal Election Commission report shows Cunneen has over $279,000 more cash on hand than Honda, after unpaid debts and obligations. "His free-spending ways don’t stop with taxpayers’ money," said Cunneen campaign manager Terry Miller in a statement. "Honda’s campaign spending would make even the most liberal Democratic leadership’s skin crawl." The report showed Cunneen having over $319,000 cash-on-hand with no debts, while Honda reported over $372,000 cash-on-hand with over $331,000 in debts. Cunneen also touted that he has scheduled a luncheon with Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, a fundraiser with Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-VA, a breakfast with Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-LA, and a fundraiser with Qualcomm. "The Honda campaign must be in total disarray," said Cunneen consultant Kevin Spillane in a statement. "I’ve never heard of a campaign in the Silicon Valley that has been won on $40,000."
Describing Justin Lilley, as "one of the brightest telecom and e-commerce lawyers in Washington," House Commerce Committee Chairman Tom Bliley, R-VA, bid adieu to the committee's telecom counsel, as he heads off to become vice president of government affairs for News Corp. In his new job, Lilley plans to lobby on public policy issues affecting Fox and other News Corp. companies, including telecommunications and copyright matters. Lilley has served as telecommunications adviser to GOP members of the House Commerce Committee between 1988 and 1993 and prior to his time on Capitol Hill, Lilley was an associate at the law firm Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd and Evans, and also Halprin, Temple, Goodman and Sugrue specializing in telecommunications law.
Patton Boggs, the well-known lobbying firm, has taken an investment in NetCompliance, which provides Web-based worker training programs. According to NetCompliance, Patton Boggs and NetCompliance are to team up team to pursue clients in the regulatory compliance field, or who are trying to manage their compliance responsibilities through the Web-based hardware, software and online training. NetCompliance also said Verner Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand have also agreed to work together to seek clients.
 | - by Bara Vaida |
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