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Westine's White House Baptism
by Bara Vaida
Taking the job as head of the White House's Office of Public Liaison has been like "drinking water from a fire hydrant" but has been a rewarding position, Lezlee Westine said Dec. 20 in an interview reflecting on her first year at the White House.
Westine was one of President Bush's earliest hires and has been in charge of building an office that is the chief outreach organization to the public. Besides furthering the connection between the high-tech community and Bush, Westine has had to build relationships with everyone from Hollywood producers to ethnic music groups.
"The job became even more rewarding after [the] Sept. 11 [terrorist attacks] because I feel like I am really contributing something," Westine said.
Among those contributions is hiring staffers who are reaching out to the Muslim and Arab communities in the United States, as well as building an interagency working group to draw attention to women's issues. The working group recently brought to the White House a group of Afghan women to meet with first lady Laura Bush on women's rights issues in that country.
Westine said one of her proudest moments in 2001 was organizing a meeting between Bush and the high-tech community last March in the East Room of the White House, and one of her worst moments was making the mistake of buying a house in Virginia "that was an hour-and-a-half away" from the White House. Westine since has sold that house and bought one that is closer.
Looking forward to 2002, Westine said now that her office is organized, she is hoping to spend more time on high-tech issues. "Now that we've staffed up, there's no question I'll have more time for technology," she said.
Lofgren Loses Top Aides
After more than five years on Capitol Hill, John Flannery, chief of staff to Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., has left to pursue other interests. In an e-mail to colleagues, Flannery said, "It's past my time to move on. I've been reconsidering what I want to do for the next five years, and I've decided, not without some quiet deliberation and intensive soul searching, that it's time to leave the Hill." He gave no indication as to his future plans.
Flannery previously worked for other Democrats, including now-Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and Reps. John Conyers of Michigan, Rick Boucher of Virginia and William Clay of Missouri. During his time at Lofgren's office, Flannery worked on the Y2K computer issue, and e-signature and encryption legislation.
Lofgren press secretary Toni Wehman also has left her job and moved to Minnesota to take a communications job with an anti-smoking group. Lofgren is looking for replacements.
Elsewhere on the Hill, Amanda Adkins will be joining the office of House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif., as legislative director. She will coordinate the California Republican delegation's activities. Dreier is chairman of the state's delegation.
Adkins most recently was interim executive director and political director of GOPAC, a political action committee founded by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. She led the organization through the 2001 election cycle.
Staff Changes At Trade Associations
The U.S. Telecom Association (USTA) has announced three top-level staff changes. Michael Rubin will be the chief lobbyist and vice president of government relations; David Cohen, who was vice president of small company affairs, will become vice president of policy; and Lawrence Sarjeant, who was vice president of regulatory affairs and general counsel, will be vice president for law and general counsel and oversee USTA's reorganized law department.
As part of a broad restructuring, USTA late last year offered a buyout to all employees. Twenty-nine accepted the offer, another two resigned and 10 were let go, reducing USTA's staff to 26 from 67. The plan to hire new staffers will bring the trade association's total employment to 54.
At the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), meanwhile, Megan Gray was hired as senior counsel and director of the organization's Public Internet Opportunities Program. Gray, who currently works at Baker & Hostetler's law office in Los Angeles, will be moving to Washington and joining EPIC in April. According to Gray's resume, she has extensive experience in technology and patent law, and is a First Amendment advocate.
The Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) has made an executive-level change, naming Robert Borchardt as chairman of the 60-member Board of Governors, which is responsible for EIA policies and positions. Borchardt is the CEO and president of Recoton, an electronics manufacturer. Most recently, he chaired EIA's Consumer Electronics Association. He replaces Corning Chairman Clifton Smith as the EIA board chairman.
From Practicing Net Law To Teaching It
Former Yahoo general counsel John Place has taken over Stanford University's Law School Center for Internet and Society, replacing the program's founder and executive director, Lawrence Lessig.
Lessig, who often travels to speak on Internet issues, will remain at the school as director of the organization. Place will focus on the center's clinic program, where students get experience in practicing law. Place graduated from Stanford in 1985 and went to work for Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. He later worked at Adobe Systems before joining Yahoo's in-house legal team.
On The Political Front
Bob Biersack has replaced the retired Sharon Snyder as deputy press officer at the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Biersack has specialized in analysis and Internet posting of campaign finance data at the agency since 1983. He also helped design and implement the FEC's electronic-filing program and Internet-accessible database.
In other political news, the moderate Democratic Leadership Council has an opening for a deputy press secretary.
Qwest Chairman Tapped As Telecom Adviser
Qwest Chairman and CEO Joseph Nacchio will chair the next term of the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council, which provides recommendations to the FCC and telecommunications industry on public telecom networks and the Internet. Nacchio also is vice chairman of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, which advises President Bush on telecom issues related to national security.
In the Bush administration, meanwhile, Education Secretary Roderick Paige officially named John Bailey as director of the Office of Educational Technology. Bailey was director of educational technology for the Pennsylvania Education Department, where he assisted with the design and implementation of the Link-to-Learn initiative that promotes effective use of information technology in education. Bailey had been providing educational technology counsel to the federal Education Department since last year.
Barbara Comstock has been named public affairs director at the Justice Department, replacing Mindy Tucker, who will handle press for the Republican National Committee (RNC). Comstock most recently was director of research and strategic planning at the RNC and before that was chief investigative counsel at the House Government Reform Committee between 1995 and 1999.
The Bush administration also has nominated Howard Schmidt to be vice chairman of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Board. Schmidt is currently chief security office at Microsoft. Previously, he was a police officer, and he has served in the military reserves since 1989. He currently is a credentialed special agent in the Army Reserves' criminal division.
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