 | |
| |
TechnologyDaily Mobile
Bush Taps Another Tech Adviser
by Bara Vaida
Stan Sokul, a former member of the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, is now executive director of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, a group appointed by President Bush to help him develop high-tech policy.
Sokul most recently was a principal at the lobbying firm Davidson & Company, where he consulted on Internet policy issues. While he was on the Electronic Commerce Commission, a congressionally mandated panel charged with producing a report on taxing the Internet, Sokul was an independent consultant for the Association for Interactive Media, as well as a policy consultant at Davidson.
Before that, he served as an administrative assistant to Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., where he helped draft an Internet tax bill, S. 1888, in the 105th Congress. Many of its provisions were incorporated into the Internet Tax Freedom Act that imposed a moratorium on certain Internet taxes.
CompTIA Expands
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) has decided to become more aggressive about lobbying on issues important to it, including information technology training, and the group has hired some new staffers and reorganized its focus to accomplish its goal.
The changes include naming Martin Bean as chairman of CompTIA's public policy committee. Bean most recently was chief operating officer of New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, an IT training company.
The organization also named Ludo Wijckmans as chairman of its newly formed European Union public policy committee. Wijckmans is currently managing director of Xylos NV, a Belgian systems integrator, and president of Antwerp Digital Mainport. And Jacque Johnson joins CompTIA as manager of U.S. public policy. Previously, Johnson was executive director and vice president of the Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Assets.
Lastly, CompTIA created a new state and grassroots program, which will be run by Grant Mydland, currently the manager of CompTIA's state government relations and grassroots programs. He created and ran the Technology Workforce Coalition, which aims to advance IT workforce issues nationally.
Besides workforce issues, CompTIA plans to focus on computer recycling, competition policy, Internet security, Internet privacy, e-commerce and broadband during 2002.
The Blunt Truth On Stock Options
Cypress Semiconductor President T.J. Rodgers, an industry figure well known for his libertarian views and opposition to closer ties between Silicon Valley and Washington, recently found a reason to travel to Capitol Hill: to fight accounting legislation related to stock options.
Rodgers strenuously opposes a bill, S. 1940, that would require firms to account for the value of employee stock options on their financial statements if they take tax deductions for those options. "The proposed legislation, instead of cleaning up corporate accounting as it is intended to do, would skewer what has proven an incredibly effective incentives system and reduce the earnings of every single Silicon Valley company," Rodgers wrote Monday in a Wall Street Journal editorial.
In an interview with National Journal's Technology Daily, Rodgers said he would travel to the Hill to fight the legislation despite his longstanding dislike of politicians. "I've found I have easy access [to members] because I'm so blunt. I'm not a big money guy, and the only reason why they want to see me is that they know they'll hear the truth," he said. "I relish my position of being an outsider."
South Dakota's GOP Shuffle
South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow on Tuesday is expected to announce that he is running for the House seat fellow Republican John Thune is vacating to seek a Senate seat in the state, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported. The decision would pit Janklow, who is term-limited as governor, against former Sen. Larry Pressler in the Republican primary for the House seat.
Pressler lost his Senate seat to current Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat, in 1996. Pressler was one of the original sponsors of the 1996 Telecommunications Act and is trying to regain a spot in the House, where he served four years before election to the Senate in 1978.
And the Honoree Is ...
The U.S. Telecom Association (USTA), a group that represents the regional Bell telephone companies, gave a Lifetime Achievement Award to Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., at a conference on Feb. 28, in honor of his commitment to a "strong and competitive U.S. telecommunications industry."
Dingell is the lead co-sponsor of the Tauzin-Dingell bill, which would provide regulatory relief for the Baby Bells in the high-speed Internet arena. The House passed the legislation, H.R. 1542, last Wednesday. Dingell's "work reflects the kind of politics all Americans want to see in Washington," USTA President Walter McCormick said.
In other award news, Government Technology and the Center for Digital Government chose Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) Vice President Rob Atkinson as a winner of the "GT 25 -- Doers, Dreamers and Drivers of Information Technology" award in honor of his work championing technology to make government more effective. Atkinson is the director of PPI's Technology and New Economy Project and has done extensive work on e-government, e-commerce, privacy and other technology policies.
Telecom Cooperative Elects Executives
The board of directors for the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) has elected new leaders: John Metts as president, Norman Walker as vice president and Tom Rowland as secretary-treasurer.
Metts is the CEO and general manager of Penasco Valley Telephone Cooperative in Artesia, N.M.; Walker is the CEO and general manager of McDonough Telephone Cooperative in Colchester, Ill.; and Rowland is the president and CEO of North Central Telephone Cooperative in Lafayette, Tenn.
The Business Of Education Standards
Texan John Stevens has been chosen as the lone business designee for a federal panel that will negotiate new rules for education standards and tests. Stevens is the director of the Texas Business and Education Coalition, which includes high-tech members.
The education reform law signed early this year requires the Education Department to use a negotiated rulemaking process to develop draft rules on education standards and assessments. The panel that will negotiate the rules will meet five times in March, and the meetings are open to the public. A final proposed rule will be available for public comment beginning May 1.
Stevens was chosen as the business community's designee to the negotiating committee. The board consists of 21 members, with the remainder being from the education community.
NEW FEATURE
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
