IP Democracy: Silicon Valley Hopes for State of Union Nod

This insiderish piece from Mike Langberg at The Mercury News underscores an annual Washington ritual: waiting to see if your pet issue gets mentioned in the President’s State of the Union address. Langberg says that Silicon Valley honchos will be on the edge of their seats come next Tuesday hoping to see if their lobbying on “competitiveness and innovation” issues, as Langberg has dubbed them, has paid off with a mention in the President’s speech.

These issues cover efforts to “improve our education system, boost research funding and fix overly restrictive immigration laws,” according to Langberg, and some big time tech leaders have been pushing the White House on these questions. In December, Intel Chairman Craig Barrett met with Vice President Dick Cheney and staff. Later that day, George M. Scalise, president of the Semiconductor Industry Association and Floyd Kvamme, a partner in venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers met with Chief of Staff Andrew Card and his people.

Two days later, a group that included Norman R. Augustine, the retired chairman of Lockheed Martin, met with Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Joshua Bolten, director of the Office and Management and Budget. Finally, on December 15, three U.S. senators, Lamar Alexander, (R-TN), Jeff Bingaman, (D-NM), and Pete Domenici, (R-NM) met for an hour with President Bush discussing the issues.

Langberg points out that the chances are pretty good that with this kind of access, President Bush will give a nod to the competitiveness and innovation issues. Moreover, this cluster of questions don’t immediately affect any company’s bottom-line and has bi-partisan support, both of which bode well for a mention in the speech. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) introduced a legislative package in November called “The Innovation Agenda.”

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on January 26, 2006 10:44 AM to IP Democracy