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Campaign Gold In The Golden State
by Bara Vaida
With the crush of last week's legislative calendar behind him, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., is spending August campaigning throughout the West. One of the events he will attend is a fundraiser in Orange County with members of TechNet, the bipartisan high-tech lobbying group.
"We'll be talking about issues of importance to the high-tech community," a Hastert spokesman said. Hastert is bypassing Silicon Valley in his visit to the state, though a spokesman said that decision has nothing to do with the fact that the region is represented entirely by Democrats. "It was a scheduling thing," the spokesman said.
Other House Republicans, however, will fly to Silicon Valley for a TechNet-organized evening fundraiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) on Aug. 22. Those lawmakers expected to attend include: NRCC Chairman Tom Davis of Virginia; Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas; Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Phil Crane of Illinois; Kay Granger and Pete Sessions of Texas; Melissa Hart of Pennsylvania; Darrell Issa, Doug Ose and Richard Pombo of California; and Gerald Weller of Illinois.
TechNet also co-organized a fundraiser for Mitt Romney, the GOP gubernatorial candidate in Massachusetts. The event was held last Thursday in San Francisco. And the group is involved in the following fundraisers: a lunch on Tuesday for Steve Westly, a former senior executive at eBay who is running for California state controller; an Aug. 13 breakfast for Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash.; and an Aug. 22 reception for GOP Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
TechNet also is organizing a Wednesday visit to Silicon Valley for Bruce Mehlman, the Commerce Department's assistant secretary for technology policy.
Also in August, the New Democrat Network hosts its annual Silicon Valley retreat, which combines fundraising with policy discussions. On Aug. 12, at Hewlett-Packard's headquarters in Palo Alto, the network has scheduled day-long discussions on homeland security, digital-rights management, the economy and the 2002 elections.
Speakers will include In-Q-Tel President and CEO Gilman Louie, McKinsey Global Institute Chairman Lenny Mendonca, former Defense Secretary William Perry, Symantec CEO John Thompson and Berkeley economist Hal Varian. Individuals must pay $50 to attend the discussion portion of the retreat and are asked to contribute $1,000 attend the evening reception.
A Dead Heat For Dingell
In a surprise change in the campaign climate, Michigan Democratic Reps. Lynn Rivers and John Dingell are in a dead heat heading into the final 10 days of their primary campaign, the Detroit Free Press reports. A Free Press poll shows Rivers of Ann Arbor with 46 percent support among 300 likely Democratic voters in the redrawn 15th District and Dingell with 45 percent.
Dingell has been a member of Congress since 1955 and was the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee before the Republicans took the House leadership in 1994. He has been a prominent figure on telecommunications issues and more recently in the high-speed Internet debate as a co-sponsor of the Tauzin-Dingell bill, H.R. 1542, which was one of the most prominent high-tech battles earlier this year.
Rivers' campaign has focused on her gun-control efforts, which has struck an apparent chord with constituents, the Free Press reports. Dingell is a longtime gun-control foe.
In other campaign news, Republican Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and his Democratic challenger, former state Attorney General Tom Strickland, have been trading accusations of influence-peddling over their ties to Qwest Communications and Global Crossing, telecom companies embroiled in accounting controversies, according to the Denver Post.
Strickland noted in a statement that Qwest has given Allard more than $100,000 since 1996. Meanwhile, Allard has said that Strickland's ties to Global Crossing reinforce his image as a "lawyer-lobbyist." When in private practice, Strickland lobbied on Global Crossing's behalf for a merger with US West, and his law firm was paid $450,000 in lobbying fees, the Post reported.
Two recent polls show that Allard remains ahead of Strickland in the race by between one and 12 percentage points.
Holding Onto Influence
Influence Online reports that WorldCom has many outside lobbyists under contract, but now that it has filed for bankruptcy, it must petition the court to keep them.
In its July 21 filing, the company asked that Patton Boggs be allowed to remain counsel for regulatory work, government procurement and public policy, "including but not limited to congressional investigations." An affidavit from Thomas Boggs Jr. states that the firm has received $803,259 from WorldCom since July 1, 2001, and is still owed $234,023.
The petition lists hourly rates as well. Among WorldCom's lobbyists, Boggs makes $700 an hour, Donald Moorehead $550, Jonathan Yurowsky $525 and Robert Jones $350. None of them owns WorldCom stock, but 20 other attorneys at the firm hold between 20 and 5,000 shares each, the online newsletter reported.
Executive Decisions In Tech Circles
Lee Holcomb, a former chief information officer (CIO) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has been hired to spend the next six to 12 months as the new director of infrastructure within the White House Office of Homeland Security. He will concentrate on creating the architecture and subsequent management of an information system for the office.
Among his accomplishments, Holcomb oversaw a comprehensive infrastructure review of NASA systems that led to numerous security upgrades during his five-year tenure. He is being replaced at the space agency by acting CIO Paul Strassman, a senior tech adviser at the agency.
Elsewhere, Casey Coleman has been named chief technology officer at the General Services Administration's new Office of Citizen Services and Communications Office. In her new role, Coleman will oversee and lead the e-government initiatives within the office. She also will be the principal adviser to M.J. Jameson, the new associate administrator for the office. Before joining GSA, Coleman was at several Internet startups, including Kintana Software.
The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives (CENIC), meanwhile, has selected James Dolgonas to service as its chief operating officer. Most recently, Dolgonas was assistant vice president for information systems and computing for the president's office in the University of California system. The California Institute of Technology, California State University, Stanford University, the University of California and the University of Southern California formed CENIC to develop and implement network services for the state's university systems.
And finally, Computer Sciences Corp. has named Tim Sheahan as president of the company's new enforcement, security and intelligence division and Pay Ways as president of business development for the company's federal-sector business unit. The moves are part of a restructuring aimed at positioning the company to meet the growing demand for interagency data integration in the federal market. Sheahan will lead business operations in support of federal law enforcement and will be closely aligned with the proposed Homeland Security Department. Ways will lead company efforts to capture federal business.
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