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Oracle Raps Hoffman To Direct Legislative Affairs
By Bara Vaida
Oracle has hired Robert Hoffman as its new director of congressional and legislative affairs. Hoffman currently is the legislative director for Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust, Business Rights and Competition Subcommittee. Before working for DeWine, Hoffman was counsel to South Dakota Republican Larry Pressler, the former chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transporation Committee. He also previously worked for former California Gov. Pete Wilson, R.
In other news at Oracle, Ken Glueck, senior director of government affairs, said Oracle has pulled its membership from the electronics industry trade group AeA to better focus on software industry priorities. Oracle remains a member of the Information Technology Association of America, the Software and Information Industry Association, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, TechNet and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Ex-Hill Aides Open Lobbying Shop
Three former Hill staffers with multiple years of high-tech and communications experience have created a new bipartisan lobbying and policy firm, the Cormac Group.
Partners and co-founders of the firm include: James (J.D.) Derderian, who was chief of staff to former House Commerce Committee Chairman Tom Bliley, R-Va.; John Timmons, who was a senior counsel for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee until he became a technology specialist for Higgins, McGovern and Smith; and Pat Williams, who worked for two former Democratic congressmen before handling government affairs for AT&T, MCI and the Telecommunications Industry Association. "Our strengths come out of our interaction on the tech issues," Derderian said.
The firm already has signed up AT&T Wireless, PanAmSat, SAIC's e-commerce division and Time Warner Telecom, as clients.
TechNet Looks At Former Gore Operative
Danny Fowler Jr., the director of field operations for former Vice President Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, is one of the candidates under consideration to fill Jeff Modisett's shoes as Democratic political strategist for TechNet, according to industry sources. Fowler also worked for former Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard.
In other TechNet news, to celebrate five years of the creation of NetDay, TechNet members will take part in a Leadership Summit in Education and Technology on Saturday and then host a dinner at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose. Hosts of the events include Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, former Netscape CEO James Barksdale, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers partner John Doerr, and Linda Roberts, the director of the Education Department's Office of Educational Technology under President Clinton.
Meanwhile, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., is scheduled to attend a fundraiser in Silicon Valley on April 12, while Mainstreet Republicans are scheduled to travel to the area the week of April 16. Sen. Jack Reid, D-R.I., is to attend another reception in the valley April 19. And that same week in the Bay area, Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu, La., and John (Jay) Rockefeller, W.Va., are scheduled to attend various Democratic or fundraising events.
And Now Directing Policy And Communications ...
Shane Tews has joined VeriSign/Network Solutions Inc. (NSI) as director of public policy, reporting to Roger Cochetti in the VeriSign Policy Group. Tews is directing VeriSign's relations with Congress, the political community, and state and local governments. She will manage VeriSign/NSI's Internet Leadership political action committee, as well as the various firms that help represent the company before Congress and in Sacramento, Calif., and in Richmond, Va.
Tews joined VeriSign from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, where she was vice president of government affairs. She also previously was the director of government relations for Citizens for a Sound Economy and the legislative director for former Rep. Gary Franks, R-Conn.
Elsewhere, Francis Rose, a former producer at C-SPAN, has joined the Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF) as communications director. Rose will focus on delivering PFF's message to the media, both print and electronic. He also will work to provide visitors to the foundation's Web site with a wider variety and greater depth of information, and will coordinate media outreach for the foundation's annual Aspen Summit conference, which is scheduled for Aug. 19-21 and often features high-tech speakers.
Getting Educated
Carla Buckner has joined the staff of Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., where she will be working on technology and education issues. Buckner previously was the legislative counsel to Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas, where she also worked on high-tech issues. "Technology is my first love," the Austin, Texas, native told National Journal magazine.
During her last six weeks in Hinojosa's office, Buckner successfully organized a Democratic boycott of meetings in the House Education and the Workforce Committee to protest a subcommittee reorganization that Democrats said gave short shrift to minority colleges.
Elsewhere on the education front, SchoolTone Alliance, a nonprofit, independent consortium of companies promoting technology in schools, has named Irene Spero as executive director.
Spero recently completed her role as director of external relations for the Web-based Education Commission, a bipartisan national commission authorized by Congress. Before that, she was the executive director of federal and state relations for the College Board, an organization representing 3,500 schools, colleges and universities, and the assistant director of government relations for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
The Heritage Foundation, meanwhile, has hired two new aides to fill the vacuum left by senior education experts who have joined the Bush administration.
Krista Kafer joins Heritage as an education policy analyst after four years on Capitol Hill, most recently working for Rep. David McIntosh, R-Mich. On the Hill, she worked on education issues like block grants and school choice. And Tom Dawson, the new educational affairs fellow, will be working on state education issues. Previously, Dawson was at San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute for public policy, a conservative think tank.
Bush Moves To Fill Education, Trade, Procurement Slots
President Bush last week said he intended to nominate people to a few posts that may have jurisdiction over high-tech issues. One is Susan Neuman to be assistant Education secretary for elementary and secondary education. She is currently a professor and director of the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement at the University of Michigan and in the past has taught at several colleges.
Also in the Education Department, Bush said he would nominate Carol D'Amico to be assistant Education secretary for vocational and adult education. She currently is the executive director for Workforce, Economic and Community Development at Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana in Indianapolis.
Bush also said he would nominate Peter Allgeier to be deputy U.S. trade representative (USTR). Allgeier currently is the senior director for international economic affairs at the White House's National Economic Council (NEC).
Allgeier is to be joined Linnet Deily and Jon Huntsman, who Bush also is expected to nominate to be USTR deputies in the USTR office. Deily currently is vice chairman in the president's office for Charles Schwab. Huntsman is the vice chairman of the Huntsman Corp. in Salt Lake City. He was ambassador to Singapore from 1992 to 1993 and served in the Commerce Department from 1989 to 1992.
Finally, Bush intends to nominate Angela Styles to be administrator of federal procurement policy at the White House Office of Management and Budget. She currently is the special assistant to the associate administrator for government-wide policy at the General Services Administration.
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