By J. Edward Pawlick
October 19, 2000

President Clinton and six Democratic Senators will be hosting a dozen high-tech Massachusetts businessmen tomorrow night at Sen. John Kerry’s house on Beacon Hill. 

Each of the high-tech leaders will be contributing $25,000 or more to the Democratic party in order to attend.

The Boston Globe reports that the businessmen are giving money to the Democrats because, “[T]he 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.”

Many conservatives, including Rush Limbaugh, have said that Microsoft was sued solely because they did not get involved in politics. They point out that Microsoft had little or no lobbyists in Washington, whereas their competitors like Netscape had a large presence in Washington with many lobbyists. They even consulted with the government lawyers who sued Microsoft because Netscape and other political allies of Clinton desired it.

The conservatives say that the plunge in high-tech stocks as shown by the large drop in Nasdaq resulted from the suit against Microsoft and has ruined the portfolios of many Americans, including many in the middle class.

Top Democrats Will Be There
Three of the business leaders who will meet with the Democrats will be Joseph Chung of Art Technology Group, Bill Warner of Avid and Wildfire and Paul Egerman of eScription. The Democrats who will attend include the leader of the party in the Senate, Tom Daschle.

The issues that will be discussed will be those that are important to the high-tech businesses, according to the Globe.

“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.”

Similar events are being staged by the Democrats across the country. It is part of a new initiative by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee called the High Technology Council. 

The three business leaders interviewed by the Globe said they had never been interested in politics until the time that the federal government sued Microsoft. 

“Until recently, the computer technology people have existed in one camp, and the politicians have existed in another,” Eagerman said. 

Warner said he couldn’t think of one political issue that engaged him before 1998, the time when Microsoft was sued. “I’m really just starting to figure out how it all works,” he said.

When Chung was asked to characterize his political background, he replied, “None. Aside from voting, that is, and I’m not sure I’ve done that every year. I think I’ve always registered as independent.”

The Globe, which heavily supports the Democratic party and Gore for President, did not appear to realize the damning words it was writing on the front page about its candidates when it wrote:

“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.”

But the fact that they must pay $25,000 or more in blackmail in order to do so was not really noticed by the Globe.