Tech Leaders Feeling Neglected

WASHINGTON â€”  Texas computer mogul Michael Dell and his fellow high-tech executives raised twice as much money for George W. Bush’s presidential campaign as their Democratic counterparts raised for Al Gore last year.

But now, with the sputtering technology industry threatening to drag the nation into a recession, policy observers and tech executives have begun to wonder if the president--a former oilman--will pay more attention to the fuel of the “new economy�: information technology.

Aside from weighing in on stem cell research, Bush has devoted scant attention to Silicon Valley, critics say. Vice President Dick Cheney also has appeared detached--in contrast to Gore’s high-profile championing of technology policy during the Clinton years.

Although Bush has had at least four meetings with technology executives this year, industry experts and lobbyists believe a greater focus on technology is needed at a time when scores of dot-coms and high-speed Internet access providers are biting the dust.

It took the president until June 26 to nominate John H. Marburger III to the Office of Science and Technology--a key advisory post. And although Bush named Michael K. Powell chairman of the Federal Communications Commission two days after taking office, a White House paperwork snafu involving Republican FCC nominee Kevin Martin left Powell without a political majority at the five-member FCC until last month.

As a result, Powell has had difficulty marshaling a consensus on key technology issues such as media concentration and telecommunications competition.

“At this point, Bush has shown very little, if any, interest in technology,� said Hal Varian, dean of the school of information management at the UC Berkeley. “I just don’t think there is a technology champion in the Bush team. Bush’s own background is in energy, and his administration reflects that focus.�

In his eight months in office, Bush mostly has focused on broad social and economic issues such as education, taxes and trade. But an array of contentious technology issues and a slumping economy may soon make his involvement with technology unavoidable.

The issues include whether to tax commerce on the Internet, whether to push for greater protection for intellectual property, privacy and computer security in cyberspace and how to apply antitrust laws to the new economy. This includes, most immediately, whether to seek a negotiated end to the landmark Microsoft antitrust case.

The Bush administration has not commented on the Microsoft case. But the White House has endorsed a permanent ban on Internet access taxes and vowed to make permanent the federal tax credit for industry research and development expenses. In addition, Cheney has said the White House wants to boost online procurement and open technology markets around the world through trade initiatives.

“It takes time to get up to speed. The president had a short transition period, yet he got his FCC chairman appointed the next day after he got in office,� said Richard E. Wiley, a prominent Washington communications lawyer who served as an advisor to the Bush transition team. Wiley conceded that Bush doesn’t have his “direct hands on� technology but said, “on balance, I think that things are moving smoothly.�

Technology ‘Very High Priority,’ Official Says

E. Floyd Kvamme, co-chairman of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, was traveling last week and could not be reached. But Bruce Mehlman, assistant secretary of Commerce for technology policy, said “technology is a very high priority in the administration.�

“The president very much believes in the power of technology to improve people’s lives,� Mehlman said. “The Clinton administration was strong on style. We are strong on substance.�

Few industry executives would talk on the record about the Bush administration’s handling of technology policy. But several analysts said there is considerable private discussion of the subject in Silicon Valley.

“With the previous administration, Silicon Valley seemed to feel it had a better idea of where the administration was going� on technology policy, said Rob Enderle, a senior technology analyst at Giga Information Group, a Santa Clara consulting firm. “Now, because the administration doesn’t speak out as much, there is more uneasiness and . . . uncertainty.�

“I’ve heard grumblings from a number of high-tech lobbyists that they can find nobody in the administration that wants to talk about technology policy,� added Robert D. Atkinson, director of technology and new economy research at the Progressive Policy Institute, a liberal think tank.

Among those that encountered trouble early on was Greg Garcia, a former lobbyist for computer networking company 3Com Corp. He recalled spending several days in February trying to track down someone in the Bush administration to talk tech.

He finally procured a phone number for Lezlee Westine, director of the White House Office of Public Liaison and former co-CEO of TechNet. But after several frustrating attempts to reach her, Garcia ended up offering the number to a reporter, saying, “maybe you’ll have better luck.�

“It wasn’t a total vacuum, but we were concerned, early on, how much the White House would fill the senior executive ranks with people knowledgeable about technology policy,� Garcia said.

He said that he eventually developed a good relationship with Westine. And Garcia observed that prospects for a greater focus on tech policy have improved with recent administration appointments.

Westine acknowledged that the Bush administration got off to a slow start on technology appointments. But she said the administration is up to speed now, noting that the technology team is scheduled to meet with Silicon Valley officials Sept. 12.

The industry focus on White House high-tech policy comes only a few months after Bush was courting the industry with the fervor of an evangelist.

The president held three meetings with tech industry officials in the first three months of this year, including a high-profile gathering at the White House in March. The following month, Cheney addressed a group of 900 high-tech executives in Northern Virginia.

But in remarks that now seem prophetic to some critics, Cheney warned the executives that despite all of the attention: “The biggest danger this industry faces is that policymakers might simply take all of this, and all of you, for granted. I want you to know that this will not happen in the administration of George W. Bush.�

Contentious Issues Demand Attention

Yet critics say the Bush White House--in contrast to the Clinton administration--has largely stayed out of several key technology policy battles.

“They seem hesitant to take a position on any of the hot [technology] issues of the day, whether it is Internet domain names, broadband� or the wireless airwaves issues, said Greg Simon, former domestic policy advisor in the Clinton White House, and now a Washington technology consultant. “You get the feeling they just don’t care about any of this stuff.�

Bush’s plate is quickly getting crowded with tech squabbles.

The shutdown of several large high-speed Internet access providers in the last year, for instance, has created an uproar among Web surfers as well as in Congress, where lawmakers are debating several measures to boost high-speed Internet access competition.

Meanwhile, about 50 bills are pending in Congress dealing with everything from online privacy to Internet taxes, according to a search of the Thomas Legislative Information Web site https://thomas.loc.gov.

“No one would expect an administration to get into the nuts and bolts of every technology issue,� said Atkinson of the Progressive Policy Institute. “But when you look at how the Bush people talked about technology during the campaign as opposed to now, it’s almost like bait-and-switch.�