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The Rush Through The 'Revolving Door'
by Bara Vaida
Cisco Systems and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) have some staff changes planned, including the departure of Matt Tanielian from ITI to join Cisco.
Tanielian is currently a vice president at ITI, and he will become senior technology policy counsel at Cisco to work on issues related to high-speed Internet services, homeland security, taxes and telecommunications. Josh Ackil, currently the associate director of the Senate Democratic Steering Committee, will fill Tanielian's position at ITI.
Ackil has been leading the Senate Democrats' outreach to the high-tech sector since August 2001. Before joining ITI, Tanielian was counsel to former Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., and to the Senate Judiciary Committee. And before his work on Capitol Hill, Ackil handled legislative affairs for former President Clinton.
Their tenures in Washington confirm that the "revolving door" between the private and public sectors in Washington continues to rotate freely. Also at ITI, Brian Adkins, director of government affairs, is leaving the association to join the office of Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., as legislative counsel. He will take the lead on high-tech policy.
Meanwhile, Scott Corley, who most recently was a legislative assistant on tech issues for Sen. George Allen, R-Va., is joining ITI as manager of government relations. Nick Kolovos, who has been a legislative assistant to Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., is joining ITI as counsel and director of government relations. Before joining Eshoo's staff, Kolovos was an attorney adviser in the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
And Cisco has hired Bryan Cunningham, now a legislative assistant on tech issues to Nevadan John Ensign, chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, as a government affairs manager. Cunningham will handle various political and policy issues for Cisco.
In other industry moves, Roger Cochetti, senior vice president and chief policy officer at VeriSign, is leaving in May but will continue to provide the company with consulting advice. Before joining VeriSign, Cochetti was senior vice president and chief policy officer at IBM.
Tom Galvin, who is currently VeriSign's vice president for communications, will replace Cochetti. Galvin joined VeriSign in mid-2001, after handling press affairs for the Washington office of Cisco Systems. Before that he was a reporter for the New York Daily News.
Galvin will be leaving VeriSign's Mountain View, Calif., offices and returning to the Washington area to head policy efforts for VeriSign. Brian O'Shaughnessy, who has been promoted to communications director, will replace Galvin. O'Shaughnessy previously worked for Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and, later, the Internet Alliance.
Susan Butta has a new role at Verizon Communications. Currently the media relations director, she has been promoted to strategic communications director and will work on messaging for both public policy and international government relations. In the 22 years Butta has been at Verizon and its predecessor companies, she has held positions as a computer programmer, regulatory manager and then product manager. She joined the media relations shop 13 years ago.
Commerce's Henny Youngman
Ben Wu, assistant secretary for the Technology Administration, established himself as the Henny Youngman of the Commerce Department last week at a conference on homeland security.
Like most good speakers, Wu started his discussion with a few Youngman-style one-liners to warm up the audience. He joked that many of the senior staff at the department are from Texas and that because he is a Marylander, he had to "learn a whole new language" to understand all the Texans' favorite slang phrases.
For instance, he had to learn: that "big hat, no cattle" means "all talk and no action;" that "it's so dry the trees are bribing the dogs" means "we could use a little rain around here;" that "this ain't my first rodeo" means "I've been around a while;" and that "time to paint your butt white and run with the antelopes" means "stop arguing and do as you're told."
In other administration news, two job candidates were formally nominated last week when their names were sent to the Senate: Robert Nichols, to be an assistant Treasury secretary, and Stewart Verdery, to be an assistant Homeland Security secretary in the border and transportation security directorate. Nichols worked for the Electronic Industries Alliance before joining the administration, while Verdery worked for Vivendi Universal.
The Senate, meanwhile, confirmed several nominees for slots on the National Science Board. The board members are: Barry Barish of California, Delores Etter of Maryland, Daniel Hastings of Massachusetts, Douglas Randall of Missouri and Jo Anne Vasquez of Arizona. All of them were confirmed for assignments that expire in May 2008.
On The Campaign Trail
Ending months of speculation, Rep. Jennifer Dunn of Washington has decided not to challenge Democratic Sen. Patty Murray in 2004, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported last week. Republicans now may turn their attention to recruiting Dunn's colleague, George Nethercutt, who told CongressDaily that he will use the two-week congressional recess to evaluate whether he has the support to mount a 2004 challenge to Murray.
Elsewhere on the political front, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., has become the first member of Congress to endorse former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean for president, the Modesto Bee reported. Lofgren's backing could help Dean raise money in Silicon Valley, the paper said.
Democrats itching for a fresh face in presidential politics can take heart: Two moderate Democrats in Washington created the Web site DraftWesleyClark.com to urge retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, National Journal reports.
The site is run by John Hlinko, who worked on the pro-Bill Clinton Web site MoveOn.org and created JustSayBlow.com, a site that challenges the Bush White House's effort to deny college financial aid to applicants with drug records. The site's other creator is public relations veteran David Wallace. Clark, who is not affiliated with the effort, has not stated his political intentions.
Meanwhile, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is scheduled to attend a fundraising lunch in Menlo Park, Calif., on April 21. Grassley's committee handles tax policy, and there are several tax items on the tech industry's agenda.
On that same day, House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., is scheduled to attend a fundraising dinner in Palo Alto, Calif. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman George Allen, R-Va., is scheduled to travel to Austin, Texas, on April 23 for a fundraising event hosted by the lobbying group TechNet. And on April 24, Allen is to meet Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, in Dallas for another fundraising event.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is scheduled for a Silicon Valley trip unrelated to fundraising. At the end of this week, he plans to accompany Business Software Alliance (BSA) President Robert Holleyman to meetings with some BSA firms, including Adobe Systems, Apple Computer, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, SeeBeyond and Symantec.
House GOP Fills Tech-Related Policy Slots
Rep. Gerald Weller, R-Ill., has been tapped to head the House Policy Committee's Biotechnology, Telecommunications and Information Technology Subcommittee for the GOP. He will help coordinate the work of Republicans on the House's primary committees to try to enhance technological innovation and create jobs.
Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida will head the Freedom, Civil Liberties and Human Rights Subcommittee, and Heather Wilson of New Mexico will chair the National Security and Foreign Affairs Policy Subcommittee.
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