Politicians campaigning for national office play up their hometown roots and vow to represent their districts or states valiantly on Capitol Hill. They sneer at the term “career politician” and promise to return to their states after their public service. You’ve heard the drill. And, 30 years ago, many politicians did indeed return home after their time in Washington. No more - that routine is a rarity, and this week, lawmakers made it clear that the new post-office fantasy is on K Street.

The House Judiciary Committee has being debating a provision in its pending ethics bill to double the time to two years that former lawmakers could lobby their old colleagues. It was quickly defeated. Why? The Washington Post’s Jeffrey H. Birbaum reported that Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers (D-Mich.)  worried that a two-year lobbying ban would weaken Congress’ push “to attract and retain top-flight staff.” Oh, as in, people come to work on the Hill not just to serve their country but also to build up connections and credentials that would one day make them highly billable on K Street. Got it. Well, thanks for clearing that up. 

From my perspective a two-year so-called “cooling off period” seemed reasonable or maybe I’ve seen that PBS documentary on Jack Abramoff too many times.

Bill Moyers, Capitol Hill, House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers, K Street, lobbying, PBS, The Washington Post

Monday, May 14, was the deadline for universities, cable and broadband companies, and satellite internet providers to comply with the expanded interpretation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), a little known law (at least in some circles) that has major implications for lots of people and companies because it allows the FBI to wiretap Internet networks.

Congress enacted the law, enforced by the FCC, originally in 1994 to allow the government to monitor phone lines for reasons of public safety and national security. The expansion of CALEA is largely seen under the umbrella of the Patriot Act.

As with many of the federal regulations from FERPA to HIPAA to SARBOX there is an opportunity for emerging companies to help make sure affected organizations and universities are protecting network user privacy, Internet security, and at the same time being compliant with the law.  

Up until a few weeks ago there wasn’t much written on CALEA save the legal site itself and a Wikipedia page, but just in the past few days, mostly because of a Wired blog post, my news alerts have been jumping with the heavy blog chatter concerning the law.  No doubt the debate will continue.

CALEA, Capitol Hill, Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, Court, FBI, FCC, FERPA, HIPAA, Internet security, Patriot Act, privacy, SARBOX, wiretapping

It isn’t that far fetched to argue that the United States is on the cusp of a global-warming tipping point. In the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and even Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” there has been a visible change among the American electorate, corporate America, and the recent daily hearings taking place at Capitol Hill on the state of the planet. 

It’s interesting to compare some recent poll numbers: In 2005, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found that while 59 percent thought global warming was happening, only 38 percent favored immediate government action. In 2006, an ABC News/Time/Stanford poll revealed that 85 percent of respondents thought global warming was underway, with 52 percent supporting government mandates to help curb the problem.  Clearly, the electorate is changing its opinion on global warming, and its emerging as an interesting policy issue.   

In corporate America, three business leaders are making the most noise on global warming: General Electric’s  Jeffrey Immelt, DuPont’s Chad Holliday, and Duke Energy’s Jim Rogers.  As the WSJ’s Alan Murray reported: “The three men were driving forces behind the group of 10 CEOs who called on President Bush last month to cap greenhouse-gas emissions. And their influence reaches far beyond that breakthrough cabal.”

On Capitol Hill and Silicon Valley, here were some interesting things that happened this week:

…Al Gore spoke at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, telling the audience that embedded processors will be a huge factor in overcoming climate problems.

…At the Supreme Court, a narrow 5-4 majority ruled that C02 was a “pollutant” in Massachusetts v. the Environmental Protection Agency.  The WSJ editorial board had this take: “The ruling means the EPA must regulate automobile CO2 emissions unless that agency can show the science of global warming, or the potential harm it may cause, are too uncertain to justify action. The Bush EPA will no doubt be sued whatever it does. Congress will also dive in with more regulation, if only to clear up the legal uncertainty.”

Capitol Hill, Green

Allowing the unelected, the underrepresented and folks on the fringes of society to participate in the political and legal process has long inspired me, and I’ve pursued various avenues that enabled their involvement, such as heading up a speech-and-debate program for underprivileged youths in my college days and my work in political reporting on Capitol Hill.  However, it was perhaps the greatest suprise to me that I rediscovered this passion not in the inner-city or unearthing campaign finance violations but in Silicon Valley.  I began to realize that individuals are not the only ones striving to find a voice in the political and legal process. Emerging companies share the same struggle. 

Too often emering companies lose market opportunities and potential revenue because they, despite an invention’s potential, fail to realize the importance (or the existence) of the political and legal debates surrounding them.  It is a terrible loss when an emerging company is forced to exit its market – not for lack of technical brilliance or business potential – but because its leaders do not know how to wrestle the legal challenges that threaten their creativity and innovation.

With this new blog, View from the Gallery, I hope to shed light on the political and legal debates taking place each week on Capitol Hill.  Covering these debates with attention to policies that emerging companies, in particular, should note.    

Capitol Hill