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Goodlatte Hires Intellectual Property Expert
by Bara Vaida
Branden Ritchie has joined the House staff of Congressional Internet Caucus co-Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., as legislative counsel. In that position, he will handle Judiciary Committee issues, including intellectual property policy.
Previously, Ritchie spent two-and-a-half years as a trademark attorney adviser at the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), where he processed trademark applications for computer software and telecommunications hardware. During his time there, he also took part in PTO's e-commerce pilot program, which was launched this year.
Ritchie first worked for Goodlatte as an intern in his Lynchburg, Va., office in 1996, a spokeswoman said.
The Executive Teams At Cisco, VeriSign
Matthew Shears has joined Cisco Systems as its director of European, Middle Eastern and African affairs, where he will work on high-speed Internet, e-government and education policies. Previously, Shears was the director of European affairs at Teledesic and before that held the same position at AT&T. He is to be based in Brussels, Belgium.
In other industry news, Jon Englund, who was vice president of policy and government affairs at ExciteAtHome before the company went bankrupt, landed on his feet as a consultant for VeriSign, where he has been working for the past year. Before working at ExciteAtHome, Englund was senior vice president at the Information Technology Association of America.
Telecom Group Names First Female Chair
Margaret Greene, president of regulatory and external affairs at BellSouth, has assumed the gavel as new chairwoman of the U.S. Telecom Association's board of directors. Greene is the first woman to hold the position.
She said she plans to make broad policy reform, consensus on universal telecom service, a strong national trade association, and a positive, accurate image of the industry her top priorities.
Greene joined South Central Bell's legal department in 1983 after spending several years in private practice and servicing as associate solicitor for the Energy Department. From 1991 to 1995, she served as president of BellSouth's Kentucky operations and then in 1996 served as a Cabinet secretary for the governor of Kentucky. She returned to BellSouth late in 1996.
FCC Broadens Broadband Team
Paul Nagle has joined the Office of Legislative Affairs at the FCC as an attorney-adviser, a role in which he will support the agency's legislative activities. He will focus most of his efforts on broadband infrastructure and related issues, the agency said.
Nagle previously was an associate attorney at the law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer, which he joined in June 1999. At the firm, he served as an associate attorney assisting various telecommunications clients with regulatory and transactional matters.
The FCC is considering several rules that could impact future broadband policy.
Bush Makes Transportation Security Hiring Official
President Bush has officially nominated Admiral James Loy to head the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a job he has held in an acting role since July. Loy replaced James McGaw, who resigned amid criticism of his management of TSA. Before TSA, Loy spent 38 years as head of the Coast Guard, AP reported.
Loy is developing a "stupid rule list" that regulators currently require of airports, including a ban on carrying coffee cups, nail clippers or eyelash curlers on airplanes, AP said. Loy's management style is the opposite of his predecessor, a former Secret Service agent and head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He took a strict law-enforcement approach and was perceived as too gruff when dealing with Congress and the traveling public, the AP said.
Elsewhere in the Bush administration, Chris Padilla has been named assistant U.S. trade representative for intergovernmental affairs and public liaison, where he will lead public outreach efforts with state and local governments.
For the past 12 years, Padilla has worked in various senior trade positions at Eastman Kodak, Lucent Technologies and AT&T. He helped build coalitions for presidential trade-negotiating authority and permanent normal trade relations with China and has served on several trade advisory committees since 1996.
In an article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in August, Padilla, then still with Kodak, said he supports a tax break for the overseas branches of U.S. firms. Some high-tech companies support that program, although it has been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization.
The Army's Transformer
Army Maj. General Robert Wagner has been appointed to the deputy command of the U.S. Joint Forces Command. In his role, he will help transform the military into one that uses more efficient internal systems and weapons driven by information technology.
Bush has proposed increased spending to enable the transformation, which includes money for better intelligence and communications equipment, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles. The transformation also calls for increasing the interoperability of the various tech systems within the military.
Wagner most recently was commanding general of the Army's Southern European Task Force.
A Busy Month For TechNet
The bipartisan lobbying group TechNet is helping to organize several fundraisers in the San Francisco Bay area for federal candidates over the next month.
The events will include: an Oct. 22 fundraiser for Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., at the home of venture capitalist Sandy Robertson; an Oct. 24 fundraiser for Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., that will feature Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.; an Oct. 29 lunch for National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va.; and an Oct. 29 fundraising reception for House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif.
On Oct. 22, TechNet also is helping to organize a rescheduled town-hall meeting with California Gov. Gray Davis in Silicon Valley and an Oct. 29 fundraiser for California State Treasurer Phil Angelides that is being hosted by TechNet co-founder John Doerr, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Gary Fazzino, Hewlett-Packard's vice president of government and public affairs.
FEC Audit Alleges Errors By Rep. Weller
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has completed an audit of New Economy Republican leader Gerald Weller, R-Ill., and found some apparent violations in campaign law by his campaign committee. The alleged errors include prohibited contributions, excessive contributions, misstatements of financial activity and deposits not made in a timely fashion, Political MoneyLine reported.
In one instance, the committee deposited a $2,500 check written to another committee, according to the non-partisan Web site, which analyzes FEC records. Such mistaken banking activity could lead to discrepancies between what PACs report giving and what candidates report receiving, the Web site said.
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