WASHINGTON-While new industry figures show top Republicans casting pro-technology votes more often than their counterparts in Congress, a review of fresh campaign finance data reveals top high-tech firms are hedging their bets on Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Without question, the outcome of this week’s election will help shape the direction of telecom and Internet policies in coming years.
How it will all shake out for the wireless industry particularly is unclear and admittedly tricky.
Republicans generally favor markets over government regulation, which nicely complements deregulatory agendas of mobile phone, Wi-Fi and other wireless sectors. But with state regulation and taxes high priorities for mobile-phone carriers, industry finds itself in a political quandary. Republicans are reluctant to encroach on state rights and Democrats tend toward government oversight and taxes.
While political philosophy plays a role in tech and telecom policymaking-despite oft-repeated declarations that partisanship is nonexistent-geography is a huge factor. It is about the district or state in which this or that company is located. It is all about local politics.
What the latest numbers show is that Republicans are not necessarily being rewarded for voting pro-technology and that President Bush’s delayed embrace of universal, affordable broadband deployment-as well as the administration’s restrained support for the recovering tech and telecom sectors-may come with a price.
In addition, the political money game appears to point to high-tech and telecom sectors believing control of the Senate could return to the Democrats.
Sen. Kerry (D-Mass.) has received $2.5 million in campaign contributions from Internet and computer political action committees and individuals compared with $1.9 million for Bush, according to Federal Election Commission data accumulated through Oct. 4 by the Center for Responsive Politics.
The big Democratic giver from the tech sector-which is increasingly stepping into the wireless space-is Microsoft Corp. Of the $2.6 million contributed by Microsoft PACs and individuals associated with the software giant, 61 percent has gone to Democrats and 39 percent to Republicans.
Cisco Systems has leaned the same way, giving 54 percent of its $794,449 political donations to Democrats and 46 percent to Republicans. Likewise for IBM Corp., Intel Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Yahoo! Inc., eBay Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Oracle Corp.
On the telecom side, it is a slightly different picture, with Bush ($331,724) edging Kerry ($320,371) in campaign contributions from service providers and manufacturers. The next five largest recipients are Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), $103,150; and Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), $90,005; Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), $81,550; Sen. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), $74,450; and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), $62,781.
The wireless industry has strong representation in the 2004 election cycle, with carriers and manufacturers generally favoring Republicans over Democrats-with three notable exceptions. Second-ranked overall in telecom campaign contributions, Qualcomm has given 51 percent of its $393,483 to Democrats and the rest to Republicans.
No. 13 Lucent Technologies Inc. spent 62 percent of its $174,445 on Democrats. No. 17 Nortel Networks gave 58 percent of its $116,576 to Democrats.
After that, big wireless contributors are solidly in the Republican camp.
No. 5 Motorola Inc. devoted nearly 70 percent of its $310,349 to the GOP. No. 10 Cingular Wireless L.L.C., which last week closed on its $41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc., pushed approximately 60 percent of its $237,925 political contributions to Republicans. No. 12 AT&T Wireless gave 54 percent of its $186,326 to the GOP.
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, which a year ago replaced its outgoing Democratic president with Republican Steve Largent, is the 11th ranked telecom political donor. Fifty-seven percent of CTIA’s $233,237 campaign contributions-via PACs and individuals-went to Republicans.
Political donations from No. 14 Alltel Corp., No. 15 Western Wireless and No. 18 Edge Wireless have gone overwhelmingly to Republicans.
Voting records
The trail of political money makes the tech voting report card all the more interesting. More than 100 members of Congress earned a perfect score on pro-technology votes in the 108th Congress, according to a group representing Silicon Valley giants and top electronics companies with a major presence in the wireless industry. The Information Technology Industry Council evaluated House and Senate lawmakers on technology issues such as Internet tax, spam, stock options, patent reform, trade liberalization and international tax reform.
“The results of the High Tech Voting Guide are very promising,” said ITI President Rhett Dawson. “Overall the 108th Congress walked the talk with 106 members earning a perfect score on high-tech issues. Industry is also doing a better job of communicating the importance of technology leadership to U.S. economic growth and stability and, for the most part, members are listening.”
ITI said its High Tech Voting Guide is the only technology industry scorecard on Congress and one of only two business group ratings in the National Journal’s Almanac of American Politics. The results of the High Tech Voting Guide reinforced the bipartisan commitment of the 108th Congress to deliver key votes on pro-growth legislation, but there is still much work to be done.
Of interest this election year, ITI had Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (Mass.) with a lifetime pro-technology vote score of 74 percent in the Senate. His running mate, Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) voted with the technology industry 52 percent of the time since he has been in office. The lifetime scores date back to only 1998 when ITI first began issuing its High Tech Voting Guide. The senators’ scores for the 108th Congress-0 percent and 13 percent, respectively-are based on a lesser number of votes cast as a result of their bid for the White House. ITI said its scorecard did not rate the administration on its performance on technology issues.
