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Orson Swindle Goes Hunton
by Randy Barrett
Former Federal Trade Commissioner Orson Swindle has joined Hunton & Williams as a senior policy adviser. He will work on cyber-security issues at the law firm's Center for Information Policy Leadership.
Swindle left the FTC earlier this summer after six years there. He never let his good Southern breeding or grandfatherly bearing keep him from bluntly speaking his mind. The folks at Hunton & Williams appear well aware of that facet of Swindle's style.
"In addition to his vast experience in this arena, parties on both sides of the security debate trust his intellectual courage and sense of fairness," Managing Partner Thurston Moore said in a statement. That is a polite way of saying Swindle can be refreshingly direct in a town that tends toward timid, over-scripted wonks.
Swindle said he is pleased about the part-time gig, which will allow him to work with a group of "deep thinkers about privacy and information security," including old friend Marty Abrams, who is executive director of the center.
Swindle is passionate about industry's need to get its house in order on privacy and data security. "We've just got to do better," he said. "We just can't afford to keep having these breaches. Business has to belly up to the bar."
Swindle has been hobbled recently by a knee operation that has kept the avid sports nut off the golf course, so he has been home reading a lot. Right now, "Leader of the Pack" by FedEx Kinko's CEO Fred Smith is on his night stand, and other tomes are around his residence. "I've got books sitting all over the house," Swindle said. "It's driving my wife nuts."
His first automobile was a Ford Galaxie -- "four door with white on top and red on the bottom. I was a second lieutenant, and it took everything I had to buy it," Swindle said wistfully. "It was the last car without air conditioning that I ever bought," he added.
Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn also is at home these days, but she is spending her time doting on her new daughter, Yosselin. Yossi, as she is affectionately known, is currently seven months old and was adopted from Guatemala.
Blogger Tapped As Edelman Executive
Mike Krempasky, one of the conservative minds behind the Web log RedState.org, has taken a job as a vice president at Edelman Worldwide.
Even high-profile bloggers need to make a living. But Krempasky anguished a bit publicly about potential conflicts of interest between the work he does at RedState and for Edelman. He has been assisting Wal-Mart with its online public relations and will be doing the same for other Edelman clients.
"My work largely focuses on helping companies appropriately shift conversations online, to not only build a better image but to actually be better online citizens," Krempasky wrote at RedState. "The first account I've had the pleasure to work on is that gigantic little company based in Bentonville, Ark. I can't tell you what an experience it's been over the past two weeks -- watching this corporate giant lead the way in response to Hurricane Katrina and helping to tell that story."
Krempasky added that he will supply his client list to the directors of RedState and let them monitor whether his writings on the site represent a conflict.
For those wondering whether Krempasky will work from home in his pajamas, as some mainstream media folks think all bloggers do, the answer is no. He is slogging into town like everyone else in the Washington rat race.
In other PR happenings, the technology policy firm 463 Communications has hired Sean Kevelighan as a vice president. Kevelighan previously served with Hill & Knowlton and was a legislative assistant to Rep. Bob Schaffer, R-Colo., earlier in his career. His clients at Hill & Knowlton included Brightmail, which was purchased by Symantec last year, as well as China Telecom and Hewlett-Packard.
Whoop! Whoop! Irony Alert!
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is known for its strong support of personal privacy protection, so it came as quite a shock when a reporter at National Journal's Technology Daily was asked for her Social Security number in order to attend the official unveiling of the group's new lobbyist, Caroline Frederickson, on Capitol Hill on Sept. 21.
Before anybody reaches to burn their ACLU cards, though, it turns out that the requirement is not from the civil rights group but from the Capitol Police, which want the numbers for security reasons because the event is occurring inside the Capitol.
When asked why the ACLU did not instead hold the event elsewhere in Washington, ACLU Communications Director Emily Whitfield said: "You go to where the people are. You want to make it convenient for them to come."
More Incoming At Trade Rep's Office
Tim Stratford is joining the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and now will move his family from Shanghai, China, to Washington. Stratford will be responsible for developing and implementing U.S. trade policy toward mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Mongolia and Taiwan.
Stratford comes from General Motors, where he was general counsel for its China operations. Earlier, he was a partner in the Beijing office of Coudert Brothers and an attache at the U.S. embassy there. He speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese.
"I am delighted to welcome Tim to our team," U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman said in a statement. "He has an impressive breadth of experience working in China and the region, both for the U.S. government and in the private sector. He brings the on-the-ground knowledge that will be crucial at this critical time in our relationship with China."
Stratford holds a law degree from Harvard University and a bachelor's in philosophy and Chinese from Brigham Young University.
In other USTR doings, President Bush has nominated Karan Bhatia to be deputy U.S. trade representative. Bhatia is currently the assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs at the Transportation Department and previously served as the Commerce Department's deputy undersecretary for industry and security.
Quote Of The Week
"From my office in San Francisco, I can cause a device to vibrate in the pockets of thousands of people across the country."
-- Ben Rigby, founder of the Mobile Voter Project, about his technology that uses mobile phones. Rigby made the comment last week at an Institute for Politics Democracy and the Internet event.
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