ASPEN, Colorado -- Jane Harman and Gerald Weller may be well-respected legislators in the U.S. Congress, but they could readily find part-time jobs as hard-pitch sales reps.
The two politicos showed up at the Progress and Freedom Foundation's annual politics-and-tech summit this week to tout their respective parties -- Harman is a California Democrat and Weller a Republican from Illinois -- to an audience of lobbyists, business leaders and think-tank executives.
Ostensibly, the 90-minute discussion on Monday was about whether the tech sector has lost its clout on Capitol Hill -- but it quickly degenerated into a sales pitch over which major party could help businesses the most.
Harman, who serves on a House telecommunications and Internet subcommittee, said that companies should get involved with politics in general -- and with the Democratic Party in particular. Harman, a moderate Democrat who represents the coastal area of Los Angeles County, said she was active in the New Democrat Network, a political campaign fund that focuses in part on the "New Economy."
Remaining aloof from Washington politics and not sending millions in campaign checks contributed to one prominent antitrust suit, Harman said: "Some players in the tech sector have ignored the federal government at their peril. All I have to do is say one word: Microsoft."
She called the Bush administration's approach to technology "not encouraging," and said that the president's tax cuts may prevent the government from offering tax rebates to U.S. tech businesses.
To Weller, the Republican pro-business approach deserves to be rewarded with the fattest campaign contributions. He acknowledged that the Democratic Party still receives far more donations from socially liberal tech executives than their more traditional GOP-donating counterparts in other industries.
Weller likened these contributions to Democrats to a college-age guy's dogged pursuit of a girl who plays hard to get and never goes out on a date -- and who ignores a more available woman. He said tech lobbyists and executives should give to the GOP "because they're your friends and you want to keep your friends in Congress."
Weller pointed to statistics compiled by the Almanac of American Politics that said Republican leaders in the House are generally far more favorable to technology bills than their Democratic counterparts.
A Wired News scorecard of technology votes in the Senate showed that Democrats did well, nabbing the four top slots and beating the Republicans 52 percent to 48 percent overall.
Both Harman and Weller could agree on one thing, though: Washington needs larger campaign checks from Silicon Valley, a sentiment that prompted some members of the audience to mutter about shakedown rackets in Congress.
The Democratic Party raised $520 million during the last election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The biggest chunk of that, $32 million, came from lawyers, and $14.6 million came from the computer equipment and services sector.
During the same period, the Republican Party raised $715 million, with $11.8 million from the computer equipment and services industry.
