Tech leaders test political waters

By D.C. Denison, Globe Staff, 10/18/2000

t's very easy for Joseph Chung to characterize his political background.

''None,'' he said. ''Aside from voting, that is, and I'm not sure I've done that every year.''

The youthful-looking chairman and chief technology officer of the Art Technology Group is one of the state's brightest high-tech stars, but he is not a member of any political party. ''I think I've always registered as independent,'' said Chung, in a way that indicates that he's not really certain.

Yet this Friday night, Chung will be joining President Clinton, six Democratic senators, and a dozen high-tech leaders at Senator John F. Kerry's home on Beacon Hill.

Chung will not be the only political neophyte at the table. Bill Warner, founder of two successful Boston-area high tech companies (Avid and Wildfire), will also there. Warner, 45, can't think of one political issue that engaged him before 1998. ''I'm really just starting to figure out how it all works,'' he said.

For the technology executives, who like many high-tech leaders have viewed politics from a distance, if at all, the idea of having dinner with the president and senators would have seemed a waste of time only a few years ago. Washington was seen as a remote place that had little relevance to their world.

But the landmark Microsoft antitrust battle and Washington's expanding involvement in high-tech affairs have convinced many of them that it is time to get to know the politicians who could one day influence the issues important to their businesses.

Friday night's dinner is more than a meet-and-greet affair. Each high-tech executive, or his company, is paying $25,000 a head to attend. The money goes to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is holding similar events around the country.

But both sides say the event is not simply a fund-raiser.

''Until recently, the computer technology people have existed in one camp, and the politicians have existed in another,'' said Paul Egerman, who is launching his second Boston-based high technology company, eScription, and is also planning to attend the Friday event. ''We're at the point now where we really have to try to understand each other.''

For the politicians, the dinner is a chance to implement a version of the first mover advantage, the high tech strategy that says that the player who initially dominates a field will achieve an insurmountable lead on his competitors.

Most of the issues that are important to high-tech entrepreneurs do not break according to traditional party lines. Online privacy, taxation of Internet sales, high-tech visas for foreign workers, software piracy - all are brand-new issues in Washington. And the political party that seizes the oppportunity to represent high technology's interests on these topics could lock in a powerful, wealthy constituency.

The Democrats clearly are hoping that Friday night's dinner will solidify their standing with the high-tech sector. The idea is that when many of the entrepreneurs decide to get off the fence politically, they'll jump to the Democrat side.

''The politicians have discovered that we are not kids in Hawaiian shirts,'' Egerman said. ''Our issues are critical; we employ a lot of people. We are mainstream. ''

The upcoming Clinton visit illustrates just how central high tech's issues have become. The event is part of a new initiative by the Democatic Senatorial Campaign Committee called the High Technology Council. Launched in April 2000 at a dinner with Clinton in Washington, the council has organized a series of get-togethers in high-tech centers. Already the council has met in Silicon Valley, New York City, and northern Virginia. The Friday dinner is the first in Boston and the fourth held by the council, which eventually hopes to hold 15 such meetings.

It's a lot of high-wattage attention to lavish on a relatively small number of people. But this ground-level courting of high-tech executives is likely to intensify.

''Basically you have both parties fighting to become the party of the high tech, '' according to Holly Bailey, a researcher with the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington.

Yesterday, in a bid to one-up the competition, the Gore campaign announced the support of 420 high-tech leaders, including Vinton Cerf, widely known as a ''Father of the Internet.''

The wooing of high tech comes at a time when its leaders are beginning to shake off their nerdy images and at least explore whether major party politics are worth their time and money.

''We're at the point where bad legislation can really be a problem,'' Art Technology's Chung said. ''We have to get involved or we have no right to complain about the outcome.''

So far, high tech has few complaints with its treatment in Congress. With both political parties eager to prove to the high-tech crowd that they are best-equipped to defend its interest, high tech had a remarkably successful legislative year.

The passage of the H-1B visa bill, which greatly increases the number of skilled foreign workers who can work at US high tech companies, was typical. Although many labor groups opposed the measure, concerned about the bill's effect on employment and training, the Senate took the time, in the middle of working on a massive budget package, to pass the bill, 96-1. Hours later, the legislation shot through the House on a voice vote.

Congress also took high tech's side on bills concerning the extension of the research and development tax credit, electronic signatures, and liability for Y2K computer glitches.

Opponents of these measures complain that they were virtually frozen out.

''It was very disheartening,'' said Marcus Courtney, co-founder and organizer with WashTech, a labor organization for technology workers based in Seattle. ''There was no effective opposition on the H-1B issue. It was especially frustrating to see the Democratic Party, the party of the people, the party of the worker, just caving in completely to the high tech agenda.''

David Butler, a spokesman for Consumers Union, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, said he believes high tech's power is growing. ''The high-tech industry is very effective at pushing their agenda because they've been able to ingratiate themselves across party lines,'' he said. ''It's safe to say that they have proven to be quick learners.''

For most of the executives attending Friday night's meeting at Kerry's home, however, the event will mark their initial foray into the political world, a place about which they have little understanding. Besides Clinton and Kerry, the politicians scheduled to attend will include Robert Torricelli, Democrat of New Jersey, the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota.

Chung said he is hoping to talk about legislation to limit the ability of Internet companies to patent technology as a way of reducing suits filed by large firms against new ones. ''I'm really worried that litigation could cause a huge slowdown in creative innovation,'' he said. ''Many small, young groups will never get off the ground if every patent turns into a lawsuit.''

Ultimately, however, the specific topics don't matter much, to the politicians or the technology leaders.

''It's really about the connections, '' said Warner. ''That's what I find valuable: meeting people in government who I feel comfortable calling and discussing the issues.''

Egerman agrees. ''If I had to make a prediction, I'd say jobs and training will probably be topic number one,'' he said. ''We all have job openings we can't fill. But what's really important is that the high tech industry gets involved.''

''It's our time to step up to the plate,'' Egerman added. ''These are the right people for us to be talking to. And we are the right people for them to be talking to.''