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Sen. Hollings' Post-Retirement Campaign
by Ted Leventhal
In American politics, you can take it with you after you are gone.
When Sen. Ernest (Fritz) Hollings, D-S.C., announced earlier this month that he would retire from office in 2004, his campaign war chest held more than $970,000, and many people want to know how he will spend it. Hollings' spokesman, Andy Davis, said that for the remaining 18 months of his term and after his retirement, the senator will "campaign" against job losses caused by trade deals and the growing budget deficit, his most passionate causes.
"He wants to campaign on these issues personally, travel on these issues, help out other candidates [who support his position], and donate to charity," Davis said. All of those efforts would be in accordance with Federal Election Commission (FEC) guidelines.
Tighter rules governing the use of campaign funds after office took effect in the late 1980s, ending the practice of lawmakers converting the funds to personal use. Today, they must be donated to charity, to candidates, or to local, state or national party committees.
But Brad Litchfield, the FEC's former associate general counsel for policy, said funds are not monitored by the FEC after they are disbursed, a potential loophole. "It's left to the media to track any abuses," he said. "There really remains a lack of monitoring mechanisms to see whether personal-use prohibition is observed."
One place Hollings decided against spending his money is bankrolling South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary. The party needs to raise $500,000 to hold its Feb. 3 "first in the South" primary. Raising the funds for the primary is expected to be difficult in such a short time during a slow economy. South Carolina also voted heavily for President Bush in 2000.
"Republicans have been supporters [of Hollings] over the years in South Carolina," Davis said. When state Republicans heard that Democratic officials were seeking Hollings' cash for the primary, they urged him to spend it on the issues instead, and he agreed. "The senator will honor both Democrats and Republicans who have contributed to him in the past," Davis added.
For this election cycle, most of Hollings' cash came from outside South Carolina, from Democratic political action committees. Hollings reported $112,300 in total receipts, including $23,500 from labor, $15,000 from two Democratic single-issue PACs, and $12,500 from the telecommunications industry (but none from SBC Communications, South Carolina's dominant local carrier). Of the $40,300 in individual donations, 91 percent came from out of state.
Still A Millionaire But Not As Rich
One of Hollings' Senate colleagues, meanwhile, has lost nearly all of the $30 million personal fortune he held when he entered the Senate in 1992, according to a newspaper.
Republican Bob Bennett of Utah, the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, once was one of the Senate's wealthiest men. Last year, he was worth less than $10 million, according to an analysis of financial disclosures by the Deseret Morning News in Salt Lake City, and this year, the figure has dwindled to "between $1 million and $5 million," a spokeswoman said.
After taking office Bennett was forced to resign as director of the Franklin Quest time-planner company, where he built his fortune in early investments. He later invested in startup companies and lost money heavily, and he has complained that Senate ethics rules forbid him from taking a greater role in managing the startups.
Top FCC Aide Resigns; Telecom Group Taps Largent
The telecommunications world experienced two noteworthy staff developments to start the week: the departure of the FCC's chief of staff and the naming of a former Republican congressman as the head of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA).
On Monday, the FCC issued a press release on the decision of Marsha MacBride to resign as the principal adviser to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, a post she assumed in January 2001. "It is with difficulty I choose to leave my post as chief of staff at this time," MacBride said in the release. "Although the chairman has a challenging agenda ahead of him, the time is right for me to pursue new opportunities." She did not specify what she will do next.
Powell praised MacBride for her "exceptional skill and grace" and said she "has worked tirelessly to make the FCC more efficient and more responsive to the needs of the American public."
Also on Monday, CTIA named former GOP Rep. Steve Largent as its new president and CEO to succeed longtime President Thomas Wheeler. Largent takes office in November.
Largent served on the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee. He resigned from the House in 2001 to run unsuccessfully for governor of Oklahoma. Before politics, Largent was an all-star wide receiver with the Seattle Seahawks and was inducted into the National Football League Hall of Fame after a 14-year career.
CTIA Chairman Scott Ford praised Largent for his "appreciation for the complexity of telecommunications and the unique competitive nature of wireless" services, as well as for his demonstrated "ability to lead and build consensus in an environment that is rife with differing opinions." Ford also thanked Wheeler for his years of leadership, calling him "the gold standard when it comes to leading a trade association."
Rep. Putnam Tours Leading Tech Firms
Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., is spending part of his summer recess on tour in the West, last week visiting the headquarters of Microsoft, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Symantec and other technology firms under his jurisdiction as chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology.
"I have enjoyed the opportunity to see, feel and touch some of the emerging technologies that will be so important to the future of the federal government's technology transformation," he said in a statement. Putnam and staff were briefed on emerging information security, systems architecture and integration, and data-analysis technologies. They spent three days in Silicon Valley and ended their trip at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., campus.
Clinton's Tech Team To Evaluate Policies
Former technology policy officials in the Clinton administration plan to gather Sept. 15 to mark the 10th anniversary of the first White House cyberspace policy document. They will hold a conference at George Washington University to evaluate the impact of their policies and compare them with the Bush administration's tech policies.
Participants will include: Kathryn Brown, former head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Office of Policy and now Verizon Communications' senior vice president for policy development; Michelle Farquhar, a former FCC Wireless Bureau chief and now a partner at the Hogan & Hartson law firm; and Craig Fields, former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and currently a pro bono adviser to the Homeland Security Department.
David Lytel, who co-developed the White House Web site while working in the Office of Science and Technology Policy during Clinton's first term, is organizing the event.
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