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Troubled Times At The Tech Policy Shops
by Bara Vaida
As part of an overall consolidation within Dell Computer's communication's division, Melanie Gness, the senior manager of public affairs in Washington, was laid off last week. Public affairs for D.C. now will be handled from the Austin, Texas, headquarters, a spokeswoman said.
Two weeks ago, Dell announced that it was cutting 4,000 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, because of slowing demand for computer systems and services. Gness had only started working at the company at the beginning of this year. Becca Gould, who handles Dell's government affairs work, remains at the company.
Though Gness lost her job and 3Com has announced that it is closing its government affairs office, layoffs in Washington have not spread to other big-name tech companies. Hewlett-Packard plans to cut 3,000 jobs, Cisco plans to eliminate 8,500 jobs, Intel plans to cut 5,000, and Sun Microsystems's profits plummeted 43 percent in the last quarter, but officials with all of the companies said there are no plans to change the size of their government relations' offices.
The officials added, however, that budgets are tight. "We are under great scrutiny to watch expenses," said Phil Bond, director of federal public policy at Hewlett-Packard.
Cisco plans to fill a telecommunications policy analyst position left open when Bruce Mehlman left the firm after his nomination to be assistant secretary of technology in the Commerce Department. But the firm did eliminate a receptionist slot in its Washington office. At Sun, employees are being forced to either take their vacation or an unpaid weeklong leave in early July, but the company has no plans to cut staff in its D.C. office, a spokesman said.
Taking The Tech Cause To Democrats
After a year-and-a-half as deputy staff director of the Senate Democratic Steering Committee, Eric Olson has left to become chief of staff to Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. Olsen, a Los Angeles native, worked for Eshoo before -- between 1996 and 1998 in her Palo Alto office and from 1998 to January 2000 in her D.C. office.
During his time at the Steering Committee, Olson worked on outreach to the high-tech community, and he plans to bring those connections to the House. House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., created a high-tech advisory group two years ago, but Olson said he hopes to reinvigorate the group. Jodie Grant will replace Olson temporarily while the Steering Committee seeks a permanent replacement.
Meanwhile, Donnie Fowler, TechNet's new Democratic political director, plans to work "very, very hard" to improve the communication between his organization and lawmakers and their aides. Fowler has lots of communications experience. Most recently, he directed the state political operation for former Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign and before that worked for former FCC Chairman William Kennard.
"I bring lots of friends and relationships that I can help plug TechNet CEO members into, and I can bring others to the table," Fowler said in an interview with National Journal's Technology Daily. Fowler expects to be in D.C. every four to six weeks and also plans to periodically visit the other regional offices of TechNet in southern California, Boston, Austin and Indiana.
He also hopes to help bridge the gap between factions in the Democratic Party that have been closely allied to the high-tech community and those that have not. "There are lots of places where TechNet can work with all the constituencies of the Democratic Party because all the constituencies of the party share the same values," he said. "We all want an economy that benefits all Americans, we all want an education system that benefits all Americans, we all want universal access to new technologies and opportunities to get jobs in the 21st century."
New Faces At ITAA, AeA
Shannon Kellogg is the new vice president for information security at the Information Technology Association of America. Kellogg most recently was the executive director of the Global Internet Project. Before that, he was a program officer at the International Republican Institute, where he worked in the Middle East and East Asia, as well as the United States.
Elsewhere on the industry front, the electronics trade association AeA has named Andrew Kolaitis as executive director of AeA's Potomac Council. The council, one of 17 within AeA, serves the mid-Atlantic region. Its membership resides mostly in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, with a concentration of technology companies in telecommunications, the Internet, satellites and missiles, software and defense.
Kolaitis joins AeA with executive-level management experience in local government, high-tech business development, real-estate expansion, public policy development and communications.
In other AeA news, the trade group on Tuesday will honor Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and California Reps. David Dreier, R, and Calvin Dooley, D, with "AeA High-Tech Legislator Hall of Fame" awards for the year.
Chatting Up Telecommunications
Pam Small, meanwhile, has left the Competitive Telecommunications Association and joined Ignition Strategic Communications, a public affairs firm with offices in Washington and Austin. She will work with clients in the telecom sector. Small began her career at MCI during the 1980s, worked in the wireless sector at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and continued working with telecom and wireless clients at Edelman Worldwide.
Ignition also said it named three new high-tech clients: Seculab, the U.S. subsidiary of a German Internet-security company; Bechtel Telecommunications, the telecom division of the Bechtel Corp.; and Ecutel, a maker of advanced mobile-networking software and services.
The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association has added to its ranks Diane Cornell, formerly associate bureau chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau of the FCC. She is now the association's vice president for regulatory policy. CTIA also announced the addition of Christopher Guttman-McCabe as director for regulatory policy. Before coming to CTIA, Guttman-McCabe served as an associate with Wiley, Rein & Fielding, where he advised clients on wireless and common-carrier issues.
Communicating The ICANN Message
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has named Mary Hewitt as its new communications director. In the new position, Hewitt will serve as the spokeswoman for the organization, handle press inquiries and advise ICANN staff and the board members on public and press communications. She formerly was the communications director for the Computer and Communications Industry Association, and has served as press secretary for the congressional Joint Economic Committee and as a public affairs specialist on technology at the Treasury Department.
Another Entry In The Dot-Com Diary
Mike Causey, the Washington Post's former "Federal Diary" columnist who left last May to work for PlanetGov.com, has returned to the traditional media world as a reporter covering the federal government for radio station WTOP, where he also will write a column for the station's Web site. The PlanetGov site closed its news service earlier this year.
A Celebration Of Moderation
The New Democrat Network will celebrate its fifth anniversary Wednesday. The political arm of the moderate New Democrat Coalition has played a key role in linking high-tech executives with members of Congress since it was created and this election cycle hopes to raise $10 million.
More than 30 Democratic lawmakers will attend the dinner. They include Sens. John Breaux and Mary Landrieu, both of Louisiana, Max Cleland of Georgia, and John Kerry of Massachusetts; and Reps. Bob Etheridge, N.C., Harold Ford Jr., Tenn., and Jane Harman and Juanita Millender-McDonald, both of California.
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