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Electronic Frontier Foundation Expands Staff
by Bara Vaida
The San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has been aggressively working on some copyright issues pending in Congress, has expanded its staff and added a Washington, D.C., policy liaison.
EFF hired Lisa Dean as its Washington policy liaison. Dean most recently was director of the Center for Technology Policy at the Free Congress Foundation, where she worked on privacy and constitutional issues ranging from banking privacy to government surveillance.
At the home office, EFF hired Kevin Bankston as an attorney to specialize in free speech and privacy law. Before joining EFF, he was a First Amendment fellow for the American Civil Liberties Union. EFF also hired Dan Moniz as a staff technologist focusing on free speech and privacy, Jason Schultz as a staff attorney focusing on intellectual property, and Wendy Seltzer as staff attorney on intellectual property and free speech.
Moniz previously served as a research consultant to high-tech companies and has a background in computer-security research; Schultz most recently worked at the law firm Fish & Richardson; and Seltzer was a fellow with Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
Comcast's Gain Is Rep. Tauzin's Loss
Comcast continues to boost its Washington presence with the hiring of Jessica Wallace, currently a majority counsel for the House Energy Commerce Committee. She will join Comcast in July as senior director and policy counsel. At the committee, Wallace has been responsible for broadcast, cable, satellite and copyright issues.
Wallace's departure is the third from the staff of Energy and Commerce Chairman W.J. (Billy) Tauzin over the past month, which may restart speculation that Tauzin is about to depart Capitol Hill. In the past month, majority staff director David Marventano left, and majority counsel Linda Bloss-Baum said she intends to leave for the private sector. Last week, Tauzin told Roll Call he does not plan to leave the House before the end of his term.
In other industry news, after two years at Jefferson Consulting Group as vice president and group manager, Brendan Peter has left to join to the Information Technology Association of America, where he will head the association's lobbying efforts on homeland security, defense and intelligence policy.
Peter earlier was the director of government affairs at the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and, before that, a policy writer for the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation and editorial assistant at the Society of Nuclear Medicine. He also worked as a legislative analyst in the Justice Department's civil division.
And Walker Digital Management, the company that helped to create Priceline.com, has hired Clark & Weinstock to lobby lawmakers on its US Homeguard technology, which uses cameras and the Internet to enable airports, chemical plants and other perimeter-sensitive institutions to monitor their premises for any intruders or potential attackers.
Bush To Hold Silicon Valley Fundraiser
President Bush intends to hold one of his first presidential fundraisers for the 2004 campaign in Silicon Valley. On June 27, Bush is scheduled to travel to San Francisco to attend a $2,000-a-head lunch at the San Francisco Airport Marriott in Burlingame, Calif., which is located near many Silicon Valley companies.
The goal of the event, which is not expected to be exclusively focused on the high-tech community, is to raise $3 million, according to sources. High-tech executives who are expected to attend include Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Floyd Kvamme, and ClickAction Chairman Gregory Slayton.
Donors from the computer equipment and services industries contributed $1.2 million to Bush's campaign in 2000.
In other campaign news, Garry South, the political strategist who masterminded California Democratic Gov. Gray Davis' last three election victories, is signing on as a senior adviser to Sen. Joseph Lieberman's presidential campaign, the Los Angeles Times reported. Several Democratic presidential hopefuls had courted South over the past few months.
He described the Connecticut senator as "the one who is exactly where a Democrat needs to be to beat George Bush," the Times reported.
Elections Expert, Legal Adviser Heed Bush's Call
Bush last week said he intends to nominate Paul DeGregorio for an initial two-year term to the Election Assistance Commission, which is to serve as a clearinghouse and resource for improving the nation's election system.
DeGregorio is currently executive vice president and chief operating officer for the International Foundation for Election Systems, where he previously served as a specialist on international and domestic election administration and democracy. Before holding those positions, he served as the director of outreach development and as a research associate for the Center for International Studies at the University of Missouri at St. Louis.
Bush also intends to nominate Daniel Bryant to be assistant attorney general of legal policy. While awaiting confirmation, Bush intends to designate Bryant, currently a counsel and senior adviser to the attorney general, as acting assistant attorney general. Bryant will replace Viet Dinh, who left the post on May 31.
Previously, Bryant served as assistant attorney general for legislative affairs. From July 1999 to February 2001, he was majority chief counsel of the House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee, and he previously served as policy director for the First Freedom Coalition while serving as a speechwriter for Attorney General William Barr.
Also last week, Bush officially sent the nomination of Joshua Bolten to the Senate for confirmation to be director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. He will replace Mitchell Daniels, who left the job possibly to run for governor in Indiana.
Microsoft, Comcast Officials Visit Washington
Microsoft flew in 30 of its technology developers from different offices to meet with lawmakers, discuss policy and conduct informal technology demonstrations of Microsoft "smart phones," tablet personal computers and streaming media.
The delegation visited: Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; John Ensign, R-Nev.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
"Microsoft was honored to have a group of our employees from across the country travel to Capitol Hill to talk firsthand about the new innovations in the technology industry," said Jack Krumholtz, head of Microsoft's Washington office.
Separately, Philadelphia-based Comcast sent 150 of its executives to Washington last week to introduce the company to lawmakers. Comcast became the number one cable firm, with 21 million subscribers, after it merged with AT&T Broadband in November.
MoveOn.org Establishes Its Political Roots
It was a big week for MoveOn.org founder Wes Boyd, who brought the computer world the "flying toaster" screensaver.
On Wednesday, Boyd was a keynote speaker at the Take Back America conference for liberal groups gathered to discuss ways that Democrats could beat Bush, The Washington Post reported. Boyd's MoveOn Web site now has about 1.4 million members, and its political action committee has raised $6.5 million over the past five years and is now among the biggest PACs. The next big MoveOn project is designed to develop ideas from the grassroots and create momentum within the voting public for those ideas, the Post said.
On Thursday, meanwhile, MoveOn won the Webby award for best political Web site. (The author of this column was a Webby award judge).
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