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Tech Lobbyist Moves To Cable World
by Bara Vaida
After two years as senior vice president at the Electronic Industries Alliance, Brian Kelly is leaving to join Comcast as senior director of federal government affairs.
Previously, Kelly was director of government relations at Walt Disney Co. and before that was a lobbyist at the National Association of Broadcasters. He also worked for a year at the Washington lobbying firm of Barbour Griffith & Rogers, was an adviser to former Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist and held Republican National Committee posts from 1988-94, including director of market analysis.
Comcast has been boosting its Republican credentials in Washington since it purchased AT&T's cable assets, making it the nation's largest cable company. The company hired Kerry Knott from Microsoft earlier this spring to head the new office, which is expected to expand from one person to seven or eight people by the end of the year.
Before working at Microsoft, Knott was the top aide to former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas.
Now Lobbying For The 'Old Crows'
In Europe during World War II, radio operators, the earliest electronic warfare officers, were given the code name "the Ravens." That morphed into "the Crows" and the change became the genesis of the nickname for the Electronic Warfare and Information Operations Association, whose Web site is located at www.crows.org.
Last month, the "old Crows" hired Trey Hodgkins as their first director of government and industry affairs, and he is working on the group's strategy for playing a role in public policy. "The board decided that it was time to ... represent the industry and have an influence on the development of the systems and programs" related to electronic warfare, Hodgkins said.
The first issue on the group's agenda is to contribute to the debate on legislation, S. 311 and H.R. 580, that would require the government to purchase technology aimed at preventing shoulder-fired missiles from attacking commercial aircraft. Other areas are likely to include cyber warfare and protecting the nation's computer networks from attack, and tracking defense appropriations.
Hodgkins joined the group from the Louisiana Sheriffs' Association. His previous work included stints with the American Textile Manufacturers Institute and the National Rifle Association.
Lobbying Firms Expand Offices
Quinn Gillespie & Associates has expanded its office by four with the hiring of Michael Hussey, Juan Carlos Iturregui, Jim Morrell and Manuel Ortiz.
Hussey, who had been a consultant to the firm, previously served as chief of staff and chief federal lobbyist for the American Resort Development Association. Iturregui, a Republican, joins the firm from the Hunton & Williams law firm, where he was director of governmental affairs and before that was director of Latin American affairs for Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson & Hand. Morrell was most recently director of communications for Ohio Republican Rob Portman, chairman of the House Republican leadership. And Ortiz, a Democrat, joins the firm from Verner Liipfert, where he has worked on public infrastructure, communications and technology issues.
Quinn Gillespie said the new hires will provide support to an expanding client roster that includes high-tech clients such as Hewlett-Packard, Sony, VeriSign and Verizon Communications.
The Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld law firm, meanwhile, has hired Beth Ann Bryan as a senior education adviser to expand the firm's national education practice, particularly on policy issues involving education reform. Before joining Akin Gump, Bryan was a senior adviser to Education Secretary Roderick Paige. She was involved in several key initiatives, including the sweeping 2001 education reform law.
From One Senate To Another?
State Sen. Steve Rauschenberger of Illinois is "80 percent sure" that he will enter the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, the Chicago Sun Times reported last week.
Rauschenberger is known within high-tech circles for his role in the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, which would set a framework for simplifying state sales-tax systems and could lead to taxes on Internet sales. Other Republicans in the race are investment banker Jack Ryan and businessman Andy McKenna. Rauschenberger is expected to make his decision in mid-June.
In other campaign news, the bipartisan lobbying group TechNet is hosting a fundraiser for Chris Kelly, a former general counsel at ExciteAtHome who is running for California state assembly in the state's 21st district as a Democrat. He was a candidate for Palo Alto City Council in 2000.
On May 27, TechNet's Seattle office is helping to organize support for a meet-and-greet for Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, a senator from Connecticut. On May 29, the organization is hosting a fundraising lunch for National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman George Allen of Virginia, who is also a former chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force.
On that same day, in TechNet's Orange County, Calif., office, a tentative lunch is scheduled for House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif. And Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., is speaking in San Jose, Calif., on the role of technology in homeland security.
On May 30, a fundraising breakfast is scheduled for Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., at the home of venture capitalist Neill Brownstein in Silicon Valley. A meet-and-greet session also is scheduled that day in Seattle with Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, a senator from North Carolina. And in Silicon Valley, a meet and greet is being organized for Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del.
EBay CEO Dines At The White House
EBay CEO Meg Whitman and her husband Griffith Harsh were among a few guests not from the administration, the media, President Bush's family or Congress invited to Monday's White House dinner to honor Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Whitman gave $1,000 to Bush during his campaign and $10,000 to Republican committees in the 2000 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
In other White House news, Bush said last week that he intends to nominate C. Suzanne Mencer to be director of the Homeland Security Department's Office of Domestic Preparedness. Currently, Mencer serves as the executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety. Her past jobs have included work as a private consultant, providing anti-terrorism training to local law enforcement throughout the United States, and a job with the FBI.
You've Got A New Job
AOL Time Warner has named Kevin Conroy as executive vice president and chief operating officer for AOL for Broadband, a promotion from his current job as senior vice president and general manager of AOL Entertainment.
In his new position, Conroy is to oversee AOL for Broadband business operations and to manage its broadband service. Conroy joined America Online to head AOL Music in January 2001.
Dell Computer, meanwhile, is looking for someone to handle global government affairs at its expanding Washington, D.C., office, according to a company spokeswoman.
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