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Election Panel Gets New Chairwoman
by Sarah Lai Stirland
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission on Monday swore in Gracia Hillman as its new chairwoman. Hillman, a Democrat, was the panel's vice chairwoman last year, its inaugural year. She succeeds Republican presidential appointee DeForest Soaries as chair.
The commission on Monday also swore in Paul DeGregorio as vice chair. DeGregorio, a Republican, is a former elections director for St. Louis County, Mo. Both commissioners will hold their positions for a year.
"It is my privilege to serve on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission with such a distinguished group of commissioners," Hillman said in a statement. "Our first year in office was challenging, but we constructed a solid foundation for our ongoing work. New standards for election systems and statewide voter-registration databases top our list of priorities for 2005."
Before working at the panel, Hillman was president and CEO of WorldSpace Foundation, which is now called First Voice International. The foundation is a nonprofit provider of educational broadcast programming via satellite to people in Africa and Asia. Hillman also was executive director of the League of Women Voters.
DeGregorio worked as the director of elections for St. Louis County from 1985 to 1993. He directed many changes to the election system. He also co-chaired the Missouri Election Reform Commission in 2001. DeGregorio was executive vice president and chief operating officer of the nonprofit International Foundation for Election Systems, which helps governments worldwide to establish election administration services, among other things.
Key House lawmakers, including Ohio Republican Bob Ney, chairman of the House Administration Committee, participated in the swearing-in ceremony. Ney was a co-sponsor of the 2002 law that created the panel in an effort to improve the nation's voting systems. His committee oversees the progress of implementing the law.
The commission is charged with providing the elections community with technical guidelines on the administration of elections, and developing a national program for testing, certifying and decertifying e-voting systems, among other things. It must report to Congress annually.
The commission manages the dispensation of the $3.9 billion in federal funds that Congress appropriated to states to upgrade their voting systems to meet federal standards. To qualify for the funding, the law requires the states' voting systems to meet six standards by Jan. 1, 2006. It also requires the states to maintain standard, computerized voter-registration databases.
The commission may have more work on its hands than anyone anticipated. On Monday, Ney said the panel should conduct an independent audit of how California spent the $180 million it received to upgrade its voting system. In December, a state audit charged that California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, a Democrat, mismanaged the federal funds and used the money inappropriately. AP reported that the commission will make a decision in mid-January on whether to conduct its own audit.
Meanwhile, the commission's Technical Guidelines Development Committee is meeting at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in mid-January to study recommendations for implementing voluntary voting-systems guidelines.
Judge Leaves International Trade Commission
Administrative Law Judge Delbert (Chip) Terrill has left the International Trade Commission (ITC) to join the White & Case law firm in Washington as counsel.
Terrill served an administrative law judge at various federal commissions. He joined the ITC in 2001 and before that was a judge at the Federal Energy Commission for more than 13 years. He also worked as a judge at the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
The ITC has become an increasingly important locale for legal disputes for technology companies in the United States and abroad. Tech companies increasingly are using the court to quickly resolve disputes over patent infringement. Litigants must hold U.S. patents but may sue either foreign companies that the U.S. firms believe are importing goods violating their patents or other American companies that are importing products manufactured abroad.
In a statement on Terrill's departure, the ITC said he also will focus on one of his long-time passions: soccer.
Law Firm Names Tech Partners, Counsels
The Wiley, Rein & Fielding law firm has elected five new partners and hired two new counsels.
Of the five new partners, Scott Bain is in the firm's intellectual property, Internet and e-commerce practice. He clerked at the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit and is registered to practice before the Patent and Trademark Office. Bain helps technology, software, media and education companies acquire, license and protect their intellectual property.
And Marsha Heller is now a partner in the firm's communications group. She helps broadcast, cable and other media companies navigate the rulemaking and regulatory processes at the FCC. She also helps media companies in merger deals.
The firm also made James Phipps and Katheryn Todd "of counsel." Both work on issues relevant to the technology community.
Todd is part of the firm's communications, appellate and litigation practice. She represents clients in federal and state courts on issues related to the First Amendment, commercial speech and privacy, among other things. She joined the firm after holding clerking jobs for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Michael Luttig. Todd also was executive director of the law review at Harvard University.
Phipps is of counsel in the firm's franchise business and finance, trade and communications practices. He advises clients on complex business deals and on transactional issues in trademark and other intellectual property licensing deals.
On the political front, meanwhile, AP reported Monday that Simon Rosenberg, president and founder of the New Democrat Network, has decided to run for chairman of the Democratic National Committee. An aide said Rosenberg plans to make an announcement Thursday. The New Democrat Network spent $6 million during the presidential election trying to win the Hispanic vote and has been involved in some tech policy issues.
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