Campaign finance -- the IT industry learns to play the game


chair and ranking minority member respectively of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The bill would amend the landmark 1996 Telecommunications Act to give the regional Bell operating companies, like Verizon, Qwest, BellSouth, and SBC Communications, more leeway in providing high-speed Internet access, relaxing many of the restrictions in the 1996 law. CRP reports that in 1999-2000, these four companies gave politicians a total of $11 million in soft money, PAC donations, and to individual candidates. Tauzin received some $30,000 of these funds and Dingell got $45,000.

Opposing the bill is a coalition led by AT&T, which gave nearly $4 million in donations in 1999-2000. In 2000, the company gave donations of $100,000 to each of the Republican and Democratic senatorial campaign committees.

If the campaign finance reform bills pass, they will go into effect after the 2002 elections. Until then, the IT industry will have plenty of money to spend on campaign contributions, and more than likely, spend it they will.

Managing Information in Financial Services

Nothing is changing the face of modern banking more rapidly than developments in information technology. The application of IT to the financial services industry affects every aspect of the business from employees, training, management and customers to data processing and information security.This workbook is designed for non-specialists and it will enable them to appreciate how the development of IT is an on-going revolution in the financial services sector. The scope is therefore wide, dealing with the strategic issues of business planning and the impact of IT at every level. However, the general themes are skilfully brought together to reveal how databases, networks and security functions operate on a departmental levels and with a bank as a whole.

Links:

OpenSecrets.Org -- the Center for Responsive Politics authoritative site on campaign finance, http://www.opensecrets.org/

Federal Election Commission, http://www.fec.gov/

United States Telecom Association that favors Tauzin-Dingell, http://www.usta.org/

Voices for Choices, the AT&T led coalition opposed to Tauzin-Dingell, http://www.voicesforchoices.com

Previous U.S. Techno-Politics stories on high-speed Internet access:

Key players square off over broadband access legislation, http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/1081...

Broadband bill action moves to the Senate, http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/1081...

The copyright of the article Campaign finance -- the IT industry learns to play the game in Technology & U.S. Politics is owned by Alan Kotok. Permission to republish Campaign finance -- the IT industry learns to play the game in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Go To Page: 1 2 3

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic