Work Boxers

Bought and Sold - Simply The Cost of Doing Business

by mark on December 3rd, 2007

From a PC World article by Mark Sullivan which he twistedly titled: “The Most Anti-Tech Organizations in America”

#3 - Big Telco Companies, Industry Group USTelecom (Surprised? I doubt it…)

Legions of Lobbyists

“The big telcos are very influential in Washington, and rarely loose a fight over something they really want. “They’ve got armies of lobbyists that work for them,” Public Knowledge’s Brodsky says. “They’ve got regiments of lobbyists that are hired guns. They’ve got zillions of dollars to spread around town in campaign contributions and other ancillary supports.”

AT&T has a large contingent of in-house lobbyists in Washington, but also farms out much of the work. AT&T reported almost $19.1 million in lobbying expenses last year, hiring 25 outside firms to do its bidding in the capital. That makes AT&T the fifth-largest lobbying spender in the U.S. for 2006, followed closely by the telcos’ industry group USTelecom, which spent $18.4 million during the year. Verizon and Verizon Wireless together reported $13 million in lobbying expenses, and hired some 45 outside lobbying firms in addition to internal lobbying staff.

One interesting thing about these lobbyists is their somewhat incestuous relationship with the offices in which they lobby. Brodsky says Verizon and AT&T routinely hire lobbyists from the staffs of senators and representatives. “If you look at the lobbying forms for the companies, you’ll see a lot of people that worked for very influential members of Congress and senators and things.” One example is Tom Tauke, a former congressman from Iowa who now heads up Verizon’s lobbying efforts in Washington. Tauke has long been an outspoken critic of network neutrality legislation.

The big phone companies also give generously to the campaigns of federal election candidates. In fact, AT&T was the 2nd largest political donor from 1989 to 2006 at almost $38 million, again according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Verizon donated $15.5 million to candidates in federal elections between 1990 and 2005.”

I no longer wonder why we’re in the state we’re in… to quote Techdirt;

“In almost every case, each of the companies listed in the article should be pro-technology and should be embracing technology. If they did, they’d discover things wouldn’t be as grim as it is right now… If each simply learned how to embrace technology, they’d discover that they’d actually be in better shape with larger markets and happier customers. Instead, they find themselves fighting with customers and begging for regulatory help to protect old business models. This isn’t a situation where they should be “anti-technology.” All of these firms should be pro-technology for their own good.”

Bingo

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