04-01-2000

LOBBYING: From The K Street Corridor

The Data Diggers' Hired Help


Internet companies are serious about fighting legislative efforts that
would severely restrict their access to electronic databases. The
NetCoalition.com, a group of 10 Internet service providers that includes
America Online, Inktomi, Lycos, and Yahoo!, has made data-protection
legislation a top priority on Capitol Hill. "Granting overly broad
protection for compilations of information could make any Internet
data-collecting illegal," Jerry Yang, a co-founder of Yahoo, warned
in a March 20 notice on the coalition's Web site. "Access to
information is one of the qualities that make the Internet so beneficial
to consumers."


Some Internet companies have gone beyond relying on the star-studded
coalition for help and have brought in some Washington talent. EMusic.com,
the coalition's newest member, has retained Joseph P. O'Neill and Kevin P.
Varney at Public Strategies Washington to work the database legislation
and other bills that might affect music distribution over the Internet.
Why is EMusic.com so focused on the database-protection bill? The Redwood
City, Calif.-based company is one of the industry leaders in helping
consumers download and purchase music over the Internet. It also operates
several of the most popular music-oriented Web sites, including
DownBeatJazz.com and RollingStone.com.


Meanwhile, GoTo.com, the Pasadena, Calif.-based search engine, has also
opted to hire outside help on the database-protection legislation.
GoTo.com, which is not a member of NetCoalition.com, has retained Matthew
R. Schneider, the managing director of the Washington office of the
Seattle-based law firm of Garvey, Schubert & Barer. Founded in 1998,
GoTo.com has never hired a Washington lobbyist, Schneider said. But the
database bill that Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., has introduced, he added,
"would seriously impair the company's ability to take factual
information from other Web sites." The legislation would inhibit
GoTo.com's ability to develop new business, such as offering online
comparison-shopping services, Schneider said.


Holy War Over FM Radio


Karl Gallant, an ally of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, a veteran
grass-roots organizer, and a prodigious Republican fund-raiser, is
representing a religious broadcaster in the nasty fight over the future of
FM radio. Gallant represents Salem Communications Corp., a
California-based owner of Christian radio stations that oppose a Federal
Communications Commission effort to grant hundreds of new FM licenses to
noncommercial, low-power stations. Many House Republicans oppose the FCC
plan, and Gallant is trying to build support for legislation sponsored by
Rep. Michael G. Oxley, R-Ohio, that would block the FCC effort. In late
March, the Commerce Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection
Subcommittee approved the bill, which has 154 co-sponsors. Sen. Judd
Gregg, R-N.H., has recently introduced a companion bill.


Salem Communications, along with other communications heavyweights such as
the National Association of Broadcasters and National Public Radio,
maintains that the scores of new FM stations would interfere with existing
radio service. But FCC Chairman William Kennard counters that the radio
stations are afraid of competition from the newcomers. Gallant is lobbying
through the Alexander Strategy Group, whose president is Ed Buckham, a
former DeLay aide.


Gallant's latest fund-raising effort, which is being conducted under the
auspices of the Republican Majority Issues Committee, aims to raise $25
million this year in "soft money." The money will help pay for
grass-roots efforts and issue ads in some two dozen districts where GOP
candidates have come under fire from organized labor.


Hard as Diamonds


Ever since Cary Grant scampered across the rooftops of the French Riviera
and bedazzled Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief, jewelry thieves have always
seemed like the aristocrats of crime-at least on film. But life isn't the
movies. Since 1984, 280 people have been killed in the United States
during jewelry heists, making the crime more dangerous than bank robbery.
The Jewelers' Security Alliance-a New York City-based trade group of
dealers, jewelers, and manufacturers-maintains that the feds are not
devoting enough attention to the industry's theft problems. So the
alliance has turned to lobbyist Stephan M. Minikes for help. Minikes, who
is with the law firm of Thelen Reid & Priest in Washington, is working
with Capitol Hill appropriators to get the FBI more money to fight jewelry
theft. According to Minikes, jewelry salesmen peddling their wares in this
country have become the targets of South American gangs willing to assault
and even kill for payoffs worth as much as half a million dollars in
merchandise. Despite the escalating violence, Minikes says, many more FBI
agents spend their time chasing bank robbers than jewelry thieves. To
balance the ledger, the association wants to add $2 million to the FBI's
budget. The bureau would use the money to hire 10 new agents, who would be
assigned to FBI bureaus in several major U.S. cities, Minikes
said.


A New Face in the Kantor Crowd


Peter Scher, the former special trade negotiator for agriculture and food
policy in the U.S. Trade Representative's Office, has joined the
Washington office of Mayer, Brown & Platt, the Chicago-based law firm.
Former U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor heads the firm's
international trade practice. Scher will focus on market-access work for
Mayer, Brown's corporate clients and help the firm develop its
international lobbying business. The firm is already helping corporate
behemoths, such as Aetna, America Online, Boeing Co., and Citigroup, press
Congress to pass permanent normal trade relations with China.


W. John Moore and Peter H. Stone

National Journal