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Microsoft's New Consumer Point Man
by Bara Vaida
Frank Torres, who has been a leading consumer advocate for online privacy as legislative counsel of Consumers Union, is leaving to join Microsoft in the newly created position of director of consumer affairs. Torres will be based in Washington and starts his job Dec. 16.
"He will be conducting outreach to consumer organizations," a company spokeswoman said.
Torres joined Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, in 1997 and focused on banking and financial services, e-commerce, consumer credit and mortgage-lending policies. Before that, he was director of the governor of Guam's Washington office and an attorney in private practice.
At least one lobbyist in the high-tech sector said that Torres "was always the pragmatist in the consumer community" and that his move to Microsoft should help the software company build better relationships with consumers as it moves beyond the Justice Department's antitrust suit, which was settled last year. Two states, Massachusetts and West Virginia, are continuing to fight the settlement, and the Consumer Federation of America praised their decisions.
On Capitol Hill, Torres likely will help Microsoft work with the Senate Banking Committee, which will be headed by fierce privacy advocate Richard Shelby, R-Ala. High-tech companies have been worried that Shelby may consider toughening privacy laws when his panel considers legislation to reauthorize the Fair Credit Reporting Act next year.
Connecting To The Communications World
Yul Kwon, who has been a legislative fellow for Sen. Joseph Lieberman this year, has joined the communications and technology law firm of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis as an associate.
In his previous position, Kwon advised Lieberman, D-Conn., on science and technology issues and helped draft legislation on homeland security, nanotechnology, that deployment of high-speed Internet services, science education and federal research and development. Before that, Kwon represented tech and venture-capital firms at the Venture Law Group in Silicon Valley.
Telecom specialist Andrew Levin, meanwhile, has left Capitol Hill to join Clear Channel Communications, the San Antonio-based radio, television, advertising and entertainment firm, National Journal reported. Levin, a longtime aide to Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., will open the company's Washington office and serve as senior vice president for government relations.
Levin has spent the past seven years as minority counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Committee and as chief telecom adviser to Dingell, the ranking minority member. Committee Chairman W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, R-La., called Levin "one of the rising young stars of the telecommunications industry. Clearly he has a unique understanding of both telecom policy and law." And Dingell added, "His counsel will be greatly missed."
Levin was a key negotiator on the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and at one point he reportedly was a candidate for an FCC slot left open by the departure of Gloria Tristani.
Rep. Oxley, Sen. Cantwell Hire Aides
Another key committee aide in the House also is leaving. Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley announced last week that Terry Haines, the committee's staff director and chief counsel since January 2001, will be pursuing other opportunities.
Current Deputy Staff Director Bob Foster will replace Haines, Oxley said. Foster joined Oxley's personal office staff in 1988 as a volunteer intern and worked his way up to legislative director before joining the committee.
On the other side of the Capitol, Ethan Ackerman has joined the office of Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to take the lead on high-tech issues for the former executive RealNetworks executive. Ackerman replaces Stacy Baird, who left the Hill to join the private sector. A spokesman for Cantwell could not be reached for comment.
Tech-Friendly Lawmaker Wins Whipping Post
Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, who will be the House majority whip in the 108th Congress, has chosen Eric Cantor of Virginia to be his chief deputy whip. Cantor, a freshman who currently is a deputy whip, will fill the role that Blunt held under Tom DeLay of Texas, who will become majority leader next year. The whips solicit and count votes on key legislation.
Cantor represents the district once represented by Tom Bliley, R-Va., the longtime chairman of the House Commerce Committee until he retired in 2000, and has taken an interest in high-tech issues. When he was in the Virginia legislature, Cantor helped push through a bill that codified a model state statute on electronically licensing computer information and programs.
Cantor defeated at least two Republicans who were considered to be in the running for chief deputy whip: Kay Granger of Texas and Todd Tiahrt of Kansas.
New Jobs, Familiar Ground
Grover (Russ) Whitehurst has been appointed to a six-year term as director of the Education Department's new Institute of Education Sciences. Since July 2001, Whitehurst has been assistant secretary for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, which the institute replaced. Before joining the department, Whitehurst was a professor of psychology and pediatrics and chair of psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
And at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mark Radke, chief of staff to outgoing Chairman Harvey Pitt, is leaving to return to the private sector. Radke, formerly a lawyer in private practice, joined the SEC in August 2001. He helped shaped the agency's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and to revelations of financial fraud, Pitt said in a statement.
Tidbits From The Tech World
The Business Software Alliance has hired Geoffrey Gray, a former senior Senate Banking Committee staffer, to lobby Congress on privacy issues and the idea of forcing companies to record employee stock options as expenses, according to lobbying documents.
In other industry-related news, the Information Technology Association of America has elected Ajilon Consulting and Communications President and CEO Roy Haggerty as chairman for a two-year term. BearingPoint Senior Vice President David Sanders was elected vice chairman.
Three lobbyists have filed papers to create the Republican Technology Council. Political MoneyLine, a nonpartisan Web site that analyzes election papers and corporate filings, reports that the names behind the idea are: Gloria Dittus, the founder of Dittus Communications; Jonas Neihardt, director of government relations at Qualcomm; and Susan Phillips, a lobbyist for Nortel Networks' Washington office.
And Seth Finkelstein, an activist who decrypts Internet filtering programs and the founder of the Censorware Project, a group that opposes Web filters, has written a book called "How to Win (DMCA) Exemptions and Influence Policy." A guide to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it explains how to submit comments to the Library of Congress and to help shape copyright policy.
A Reason To Celebrate ... Or Not
Though it has been a tough year in the high-tech sector, particularly for trade associations trying to expand membership, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), has added a prominent new member this month -- the online auction firm eBay. That brings the total number of ITI members to 28, including some of the largest high-tech firms.
The slowing economy also has impacted some high-tech holiday parties in the Washington area. AOL Time Warner Chairman Stephen Case sent an e-mail to employees telling them that there will be no company-wide party this year, though a spokeswoman said individual divisions may hold their own celebrations.
AOL is not alone: Microsoft also is not holding a holiday party in its Washington, D.C., office. The office has not held a holiday party since 1999.
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