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Tech Lobbyists Launch Own Firm
by Ted LeventhalMarc Pearl and Kelli Emerick, former technology lobbyists with Fleishman-Hillard's government affairs subsidiary, officially launched their own government relations firm, IT Policy Solutions, on Aug. 19.
Before coming to Fleishman-Hillard, Pearl led the e-commerce group at the Shaw Pittman law firm and was general counsel for the Information Technology Association of America. He is also a member of State Department's delegation to the Hague Conference on Private International Law, and has represented the private sector on U.S. delegations at the World Trade Organization and World Intellectual Property Organization.
Emerick previously was with the Downey Chandler lobbying firm, where she represented tech clients, and has been a tech policy adviser to several congressional campaigns.
In an interview, Pearl said he and Emerick said the "time was right" to leave Fleishman-Hillard and strike out on their own. "The 'dot bomb' may have changed some attitudes, but whether it is telecommunications or e-commerce, the policy issues at the federal, local and state level are just as hot as they've always been," Pearl said. "Kelly and I have been doing this for years; we're a good team, and felt that we could provide high-quality representation."
The first clients for IT Policy Solutions include a consortium of "smart card" manufacturers, the Surety Association of America and Swan Island Networks of Portland, Ore., all of whom "felt like they just couldn't get a voice in Washington," Pearl said.
"Those companies located inside the Beltway were having opportunities that [clients out West] were not," Pearl said. "They felt that having eyes, ears and a voice inside Washington would help leverage them and get their product, approach or architecture on the front burner of people making policy decisions."
On the homeland security front, IT Policy Solutions seeks to represent companies that not only have strong technology but that have developed it into a "good solution," Pearl said, and he tells prospective clients that Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge "won't be writing blank checks" for demonstration projects. "A lot of solutions will have to be self-funded by the private sector," Pearl said.
Pearl plans to keep his seat on the U.S. delegation to the Hague Conference and will advise clients on broader e-commerce issues only. He said the draft e-commerce treaty currently before the conference is "moving in the right direction," and the tech industry should be credited with moving the document away from a consumer orientation focused only on hard goods to the business-to-business model that exists now.
"In 1999, this document started out not understanding the digital economy," he said, adding that rather than lobby for a particular outcome, industry chose to educate treaty-writers on the passage of goods and services in the global economy. "The private sector and the e-commerce community should feel proud of their advocacy efforts," Pearl said.
The Trek Back To Silicon Valley
Rory O'Connor, Dittus Communications' vice president and a former editor of National Journal's Technology Daily, is leaving Washington to return home to San Francisco, to become vice president of Fleishman-Hillard's San Francisco office on Sept. 15. He will work with the firm's technology clients in the area.
O'Connor came to Washington in 1995 for what he thought would be a three-year assignment covering tech policy for the San Jose Mercury News. "My wife, daughter and son are all California natives and assumed they'd get back home before my daughter started high school. She's a senior now," he said. "I was very fortunate that there was a very challenging position available in San Francisco now, and I'm looking forward to working with the fine team there."
Tech Firms Hire Washington Lobbyists
Several tech firms have retained lobbyists, according to recent government filings.
Security Software Systems of Sugar Grove, Ill., a designer of Internet filters, has hired the Bucephalus lobbying firm, named for Alexander the Great's favorite warhorse, to demonstrate to government agencies its new Internet security technology. The product manages the content of desktop computers, instead of blocking Web sites, as a way to stop "predators and pedophiles" and also track the "behavioral patterns of computer users."
MCI has retained Wexler and Walker Public Policy Associates to lobby on bankruptcy and corporate governance issues, and Amazon.com has retained the Dutko Group to monitor legislation on unsolicited commercial e-mail, Internet taxation and digital music.
For homeland security issues, Orleans Parish 911, the administrators of New Orleans' 911 system, has retained former Rep. Robert Livingston, R-La., and J. Allen Martin, Livingston's former chief of staff, to lobby for an "earmark" of federal money.
And Appris, the Louisville, Ky.-based provider of criminal-data information, retained Lee Johnson, a former Senate Republican Conference chief of staff, to lobby for federal money related to victims' notification and "integrated criminal-data information exchange."
Tech Chiefs Dig Deep For Candidates
Tech industry executives are continuing their generous financial contributions as the 2004 campaigns get underway.
Loral Space & Communications CEO Bernard Schwartz and his wife, Irene, have contributed $106,000 this cycle and are among the Democrats' largest donors, according to Politicalmoneyline.com.
Bernard's donations include: $15,000 each to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; $2,000 each to the presidential campaigns of Democratic Sens. Joseph Lieberman and John Kerry and to President Bush; and $14,000 to other candidates.
His wife gave $25,000 to the DNC, $2,000 each to Democratic presidential candidates Kerry, Sen. John Edwards and Rep. Richard Gephardt, and $10,000 to Senate and House candidates.
Meanwhile, Richard Eagan, the founder of the Massachusetts-based data-storage firm EMC, and his two sons, Michael and Christopher, have been named "rangers" to Bush's campaign because each of them generated more than $200,000 in fundraising for the 2004 campaign. A June fundraiser at the Eagan home raised $1.2 million for the campaign from 600 guests, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The elder Eagan was a Bush "pioneer" during the 2000 campaign, and since 1999, the Eagans, their five children and spouses have given nearly $900,000 to federal candidates and party committees. Nearly all of the money went to Republicans.
Saved By The Cell
John Muleta, chief of the FCC's Wireless Bureau, and Robert Pepper, an adviser to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, got more than they bargained for while taking a scenic break from last months' Progress and Freedom Foundation summit in Aspen, Colo.
After a gondola trip to the top of 11,212-foot Aspen Mountain, the two became stuck when the ride operators forgot they were there and stopped the machine on the return trip, stranding Muleta and Pepper two-thirds of the way down the mountain. Muleta reached for his cellular telephone, called 911 and directed rescuers to their location.
"We were very glad we had our cell phone with us," he told AP.
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