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Hollings' Harsh Words For The Baby Bells
Ernest (Fritz) Hollings, the junior senator from South Carolina, is known for his colorful Southern mannerisms and his staunch support for the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and both were on display during an appropriations hearing last week.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell was outlining his agency's funding needs before the Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary Appropriations Subcommittee when Hollings lectured him on congressional intent in the 1996 telecom act and criticized the regional Bell telephone companies. The Bells have argued that Congress neither mentioned "data" in the act nor intended to regulate data services such as the high-speed Internet, so lawmakers should deregulate the firms' data services.
But Hollings, in his booming drawl, noted that Congress mentioned data "474 times" in the law, and he called the Bells' support of a House bill to deregulate the industry a "straw man to extend their monopoly." He also criticized the Bells for "playing a sordid game" to avoid competition and characterized their behavior as "a kidney stone in this whole system, and it must be passed."
On The Hill
Colin Van Ostern, the communications director for Rep. Jim Turner, D-Texas, is leaving his job to become the communications director for the Democratic Party in New Hampshire. Ostern said he hopes to be part of the effort to defeat Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H.
"The Senate race in 2002 will be the most competitive in the country, and Democrats also have a real chance at holding onto the governor's seat and taking back at least one seat in the House. It's an exciting time, and I want to be a part of it," Ostern said.
Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, Christi Harlan, the former spokeswoman for the Senate Banking Committee, has left to become director of the Office of External Relations at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Harlan will be responsible for public, congressional, intergovernmental and international affairs, as well as community relations.
"I loved chasing hurricanes when I was a reporter," joked Harlan, who previously was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal.
At the Tanks
Telecommunications lawyer Paige Anderson has joined the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) to work on a new project aimed at addressing the global "digital divide" through legal and regulatory reform in developing countries.
Anderson is taking a lead role in the Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI), a joint project of CDT and Internews, a nonprofit supporting independent media, with offices in 22 countries. GIPI serves as a resource to local policymakers and stakeholders, offering policy consultations, training, legislative analysis and other expertise in the Internet policy development process.
Jim Harper, meanwhile, has been, named an adjunct fellow of the Progress and Freedom Foundation. Harper focuses on privacy and e-commerce issues. He is also the principal of the PolicyCounsel.Com consulting firm and the editor of Privacilla.org.
And Julia Cohen, the former executive director of the Youth Vote Coalition, has joined YouthNOISE as executive director. YouthNOISE is expected to launch this fall and will be a new Web-centered initiative designed to inspire, connect and empower teens to improve the lives of children and youth through volunteering, speaking out, and raising and donating funds.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, the AOL Time Warner Foundation and individual donors fund the organization. The Web site was developed thanks to some $2 million in-kind donations from technology partners such as US Interactive, Vignette, Intel, Infopop and IBM and AOL Time Warner hosts the site.
In the Lobbying World
The international law firm Arnold &Porter has opened a northern Virginia office, and partner Robert Ott will head it. The office initially will have 19 attorneys specializing in technology and commercial transactions, intellectual property protection, commercialization and litigation, venture capital, private and public equity financings and initial public offerings on the stock market.
In other lobbying news, Randy New, BellSouth's vice president for public policy, has left the company to pursue other opportunities. New joined BellSouth in 1998 and was responsible for strategic issues related to regulatory and external affairs. For four years before that, he was the assistant vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs and was heavily involved in the debate over the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
New Faces At Education Department, FCC
Education Secretary Roderick Paige has named Clayton (Clay) Boothby as the deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs. Boothby will help formulate the general direction and supervision of all of the department's legislative activities.
Before joining the Education Department, Boothby served as the associate director for the Washington office of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge. In that capacity, he worked with Pennsylvania's congressional delegation and Cabinet agencies on education, transportation, defense and veterans' affairs issues.
At the FCC, meanwhile, Peter Doyle was named chief of the Audio Services Division in the Mass Media Bureau, and FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy hired Matthew Brill to be her legal adviser on common-carrier issues. Brill previously worked in the communications group of the law firm of Wilmer Cutler & Pickering. He has represented America Online, other Internet service providers, and wireline and wireless carriers in proceedings before the FCC and in federal appeals courts.
Company Moves
ExciteAtHome has named Matthew Hart to the company's board. Hart is the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Hilton Hotels and brings to the board a wealth of financial experience from various sectors.
Before joining Hilton in 1996, Hart was the senior vice president and treasurer for Walt Disney, where he oversaw the company's corporate and project-financing activities. Before that, he served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer for Host Marriott.
AOL Taps James Baker Protégé
Robert Kimmitt, AOL Time Warner's new executive vice president for global and strategic policy, "is an absolute Republican," Influence Online quotes Peter Madigan, a lobbyist at Griffin, Johnson, Dover & Stewart, as saying.
Madigan worked with Kimmitt at both the Treasury and State departments under James Baker. Kimmitt served as general counsel at Treasury from 1985 to 1987, and in 1989, then-President George Bush named him undersecretary of state for political affairs. In 1991, Kimmitt took over as ambassador to Germany, and then two years later joined the international investment bank Lehman Brothers. In 1997, he became a partner at Wilmer, Cutler &Pickering. Most recently, he was president of Commerce One.
"He went to the James A. Baker school of public policy," Madigan said, according to Influence Online. "He was someone Baker relied closely on for his judgement and policy acumen."
Mingling With The Powers That Be
CapNet member Shane Tews of VeriSign and the Northern Virginia Technology Council hosted a meet-and-greet forum with Assistant Senate Republican Leader Don Nickles of Oklahoma last Friday. Nickles discussed R&D tax credits, trade, healthcare reform and other issues. The forum provided CapNet members and guests with an opportunity to express their concerns to Nickles, according to a CapNet release.
Industry representatives from VeriSign, Exodus Communications, Williams Mullen Public Affairs, the Metropolitan Airports Authority, Kidz Online, The Wexler Group, the Foundation for Enterprise Development, Hewlett-Packard, Mindbank and Freedom Technologies attended the forum.
TechNet CEO Rick White and other TechNet members, meanwhile, will be holding a "networking" reception in Washington on July 11 at the Hay Adams Hotel.
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