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McBee Goes On His Own
by Bara Vaida
Steve McBee has left the lobbying firm Denny Miller McBee and Associates to start his own firm, McBee Strategic Consulting.
McBee has represented a number of high-tech clients while at Denny Miller McBee, including firms owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Some of the clients include Apex.com, Beyond.com, ClicktoLearn.com, Cybersource.com, NetSchools and RealNetworks. He was a former staff member for Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash. and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., when she was a member of the House. Before her Senate election in November 2000, Cantwell was a marketing executive with RealNetworks.
In an e-mail to colleagues, McBee said Emelie East and Jessica Burgess have joined his new firm, and Tony Williams of Washington Advocates is sharing new office space with McBee's firm. Williams is a former chief of staff to former Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash. "I'm excited about McBee Strategic and look forward to building a great company founded around the principles and values I believe in," McBee said.
Staff Changes At High-Tech Groups
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) has hired Shannon Feaster-Stewart as its new communications manager. Feaster-Stewart is a former communications director for Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and previously booked guests at CNN and was a writer for the Center for Public Integrity's "The Buying of the President 2000."
Separately, ITI also elected Dennis Roberson, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Motorola, as its new chairman. Roberson succeeds Tom Green, senior vice president and general counsel at Dell Computer.
The Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), meanwhile, has hired Storme Street as its new manager of communications and government relations. Street joins EIA after several years in financial and technology journalism, most recently covering the software sector for Bridge News. Previously, she was an editor for the financial analysis Web site IDEAadvisor.com, the Financial Times Group and U.K. business publisher Baskerville Communications. She also spent five months consulting for the House Republican Conference just before joining EIA.
EIA also announced that Sidney Harman, chairman and CEO of Harman International and husband of Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., will receive the organization's 2002 EIA Medal of Honor at its annual spring dinner.
In other industry news, the lobbying group TechNet has hired Jim Hawley as California outreach director and general counsel. In the newly created position, Hawley will serve as the TechNet liaison to policymakers in the California statehouse and governor's office. Before joining TechNet, Hawley was an attorney in the Silicon Valley offices of Perkins Coie, and McCutchen Doly Brown & Enersen. Before that, he spent 14 years on Capitol Hill, working for now-House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.
New Roles On The Hill
Rep. James Moran, D-Va., announced several staff changes over the spring congressional break. Moran hired Dan Drummond as communications director, and he promoted Tim Aiken to legislative director and Melissa Koloszar to chief of staff.
Koloszar, who previously was legislative director, replaced Paul Regan, who became communications director to Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat. Aiken previously was Moran's senior legislative assistant. Drummond most recently was a reporter for The Washington Times, where he covered Virginia politics and government.
Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, Rep. Mary Bono, D-Calif., has hired Michael Sullivan as senior legislative assistant on telecommunications, labor, judiciary, crime, Social Security and transportation issues. Sullivan previously worked for the U.S. Telecom Association, where he served as director of planning and council development. Before that, Sullivan worked as a legislative coordinator for the Mariner Post Acute Network, a healthcare company.
Congressional Internet Caucus co-Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., has hired Elyse Bauer as his new press secretary, replacing Janet Polarek. Bauer previously worked for Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., where she was legislative correspondent and then deputy press secretary. Wolf's district represents America Online, which was based in Dulles, Va., until its merger with Time Warner. AOL Time Warner's headquarters are now in New York.
David Crane has left his post as a senior policy adviser to Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., to join the Washington Group. Crane previously worked for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., where he was a lead staff member in drafting the Children's Internet Protection Act. The law requires schools and libraries to install pornography-blocking software on their computers and is currently embroiled in litigation. Before working for McCain, Crane worked for former Sen. Daniel Coats, R-Ind., who is the U.S. ambassador to Germany.
And Then There Were Two Liaisons
At the White House, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge lost his congressional liaison, Becky Halkias, Roll Call reported. Halkias left her post as chief legislative affairs aide to pursue other interests. The Homeland Security office's liaison work with Capitol Hill is now being split between two other aides.
Current FCC chairman Michael Powell, meanwhile, has named FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin to chair the federal-state joint conference on advanced telecom services, which was convened by the FCC in 1999 to ensure the deployment of advanced telecom services to all Americans. The conference is comprised of five state and four federal telecom commissioners.
The Internet's Newest Architect
Leslie Daigle, director of directory research at VeriSign, has been elected as the Internet Engineering Task Force's chair of Internet Architecture Board (IAB).
The IAB, comprised of 13 Internet experts, is the technical body designed to provide oversight of the architecture for the protocols and procedures of the Internet. "The Internet's true potential is only beginning to be understood, and the IAB continues to play a critical role in determining that potential," Daigle said in a statement.
Before joining VeriSign, Daigle was executive vice president at Rattlenote Technology, a consultant at Thinking Cat Enterprises and a vice president of research at Bunyip Information Systems.
Science Staffer's Donations Worry Lobbyists
The naming of Peter Rooney as staff director for the House Science Environment, Technology and Standards Subcommittee several weeks ago has caused a stir among science and technology lobbyists because of his past political contributions.
Rooney, who joined the committee after spending years as founding executive director of the Forum on Technology and Innovation, gave $2,400 to Democratic candidates in the 2000 election cycle, according to FEC records. He gave money to former Vice President Al Gore and to the Democratic National Committee, worrying scientists that Rooney and his boss, House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., will not have as much clout with the House GOP leadership as would a staff member who gave to Republican candidates.
"The question is, 'Will Boehlert be able to lobby for higher research and development spending, when he hired someone who has given to Democrat causes?'" one lobbyist in the science community said.
Neither Rooney nor officials for Boehlert returned calls seeking comment by press time.
Taking Any Bets On Tauzin-Dingell?
Al Mottur, communications counsel to Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman Ernest (Fritz) Hollings, D-S.C., caused some lobbyists with the regional Bell telephone companies some consternation last week when he won their giant National Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball pool, Roll Call reported.
The lobbyists were dismayed that the winnings, estimated at between $500 and $1,000, went to a Hollings staffer because the chairman has been among the most outspoken critics of the so-called Tauzin-Dingell broadband legislation, H.R. 1542, supported by the Baby Bells. "[Mottur] was just teaching the Bell lobbyists what can happen when there's real competition," Hollings spokesman Andy Davis joked, according to Roll Call.
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