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Staff Shuffles At Commerce, White House
by Bara Vaida
After two years as deputy chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, Mike Meece is leaving the agency to join the White House as special assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Public Liaison, the White House's lead private outreach organization.
Meece will replace Adam Goldman, who left the White House for the private sector, according to high-tech sources. "It is with great pride that I wish Mike the best in his new position," Evans said. "He has been a valuable asset to the Commerce team, and his contributions will be missed."
Mike Gallagher, former deputy assistant secretary for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will be Meece's replacement as deputy chief of staff for policy and counselor to Evans. Gallagher is a former administrative assistant to TechNet CEO and former Rep. Rick White, R-Wash.
Also at Commerce, Darren Grubb, the former deputy associate director of global communications at the White House, will become deputy chief of staff for operations. Grubb's move marks a return to Commerce, where he was director of external affairs before going to the White House.
At the White House, Frances Fragos Townsend has been appointed as deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism beginning June 1. Townsend is to serve on the staff of the National Security Council and report to the assistant to the president for national security affairs. She also will report to the assistant to the president for homeland security about matters related to global terrorism.
Townsend comes to the White House from the Coast Guard, where she has been serving as assistant commandant for intelligence. Before that, she spent 13 years in various Justice Department senior positions, her last assignment as counsel to the attorney general for intelligence policy. Townsend began her prosecutorial career in 1985 as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The ANSER To Homeland Security
Jay Davis, former director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, has been named director of the Advancing National Strategies and Enabling Results (ANSER) Institute for Homeland Security. Davis replaces Col. Randall Larsen, who was the founding director of the institute and will remain actively engaged as a senior fellow.
"The issues and challenges of homeland security remain among the most difficult facing the nation today -- and ANSER was deeply involved with solving these issues well before [the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks] focused the country's attention on them," said Davis, also an ANSER trustee.
The institute is pursuing a research agenda focusing on dual-benefit solutions -- those designed to enhance the security of our nation while simultaneously advancing community service. In addition, the institute is developing an executive education program to help decision-makers to incorporate security solutions into daily operations.
Rep. Tauzin Hires Top Committee Aide
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, R-La., has named Dan Brouillette, a former aide and key adviser, as his new staff director for the committee. Brouillette, who will replace outgoing majority staff director David Marventano, begins his duties June 2.
Now in the private sector, Brouillette recently served as assistant Energy secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs. He was the department's primary advocate before Congress and all state, local and tribal governments. More recently, as a partner at the Alpine Group, Brouillette has counseled clients on a broad range of issues, including technology, telecommunications and financial services.
He previously worked for Tauzin from 1989 to 1996 as a senior aide and legislative director in Tauzin's personal office before he became chairman of the committee. During that time, Brouillette worked on several key bills, including the 1996 Telecommunications Act, the 1992 Cable Television Act and the 1995 Securities Litigation Reform Act.
In other congressional staff news, Vince Sampson, vice president of public affairs at the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), has left the high-tech community for Capitol Hill. A Las Vegas native, he joined the House Resources Committee as deputy chief counsel. At ACT, Sampson was responsible for advocacy on intellectual property issues and encouraging technology industry participation in policy on natural resources issues.
And Karen Dunn, who has been communications director to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., since her campaign for Senate began in 1999, is leaving her job in July to attend Yale University law school. "Perhaps inspired by her boss, Dunn says she wants to go back to politics when she gets her law degree," the New York Post reported. "She'll graduate in time for the 2008 presidential campaign."
Campaign News (And A TechNet Rumor)
The bipartisan lobbying group TechNet is helping to organize a Thursday fundraising breakfast for Rep. Jane Harman of California, the ranking Democrat of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the Homeland Security Committee. Former Defense Secretary William Perry will join her at a restaurant in Palo Alto, Calif.
On Friday, Senate Democratic Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., and Sen. James Jeffords, I-Vt., are expected to attend a dinner sponsored by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Trust at the home of Steve Westly in Atherton, Calif. Westly is a former senior vice president of eBay and currently the state of California's controller.
Also on the campaign front, there are rumors that TechNet CEO Rick White, a former Republican House member from Washington state's first district, may challenge incumbent Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., next November. The Seattle Times reported last week that White might be seeking a rematch for his loss to Inslee in 1998.
Other sources cited by the paper said Metropolitan King County Councilwoman Jane Hague, also a Republican, might challenge Inslee.
AOL, Lucent Hire Lobbyists
Lee Goodman, a counsel at the Wiley Rein & Fielding law firm, recently was hired by AOL Time Warner to lobby on Internet tax issues, specifically three bills now before Congress, H.R. 49, H.R. 1481 and S. 150.
Several high-tech firms support a congressional effort to extend the moratorium on certain Internet-related taxes. The ban is set to expire in October.
AOL Time Warner also has hired a former employee, Catherine Nolan, as a consultant to lobby on intellectual property, telecom, trade and high-speed Internet policy. Nolan was a long-time lobbyist for Time Warner before its merger with America Online. She was vice president for law and public policy before leaving the company in April 2001 to pursue other interests.
And last month, Lucent Technologies hired the firm Barbour, Griffith & Rogers to help Lucent garner telecom contracts at the Defense Department. Carl Biersack and Ed Rogers are expected to lobby on the issue.
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