LIKELY NEXT LEADER OF GOP IS ACTIVE DRM LOBBYIST

The man many believe will soon be named chmn. of the Republican National Committee (RNC) is a high-profile Washington lobbyist with such clients as Microsoft, RIAA, ASCAP, Sony, Verizon, SBC, BellSouth, DirecTV and VeriSign. Ed Gillespie is the co-founder with former Clinton counsel Jack Quinn of Quinn Gillespie, a 3-year-old shop that’s highly active in tech and telecom lobbying. Gillespie is expected to take a leave from his firm should he assume the RNC position. The firm has walked a tightrope at times on such contentious issues as digital rights management (DRM), while aggressively promoting Bell deregulation.

While the White House and the Republican Party have made no official announcements, it’s widely expected that Gillespie, a longtime GOP loyalist, will be chosen to replace Mark Racicot atop the GOP. His association with President Bush dates back to Bush’s days in Austin as governor of Tex. Gillespie managed Bush’s nominating convention in Philadelphia in 2000 and coordinated communications during the Fla. recount after the 2000 election. He also was communications dir. for Bush’s 2001 inauguration.

Gillespie would be returning to the RNC, where he was communications dir. in the 1990s for then-Chmn. Haley Barbour. He also worked for former House Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-Tex.), and in his bio describes himself as “a principal drafter of the now-famous ‘Contract with America,’ which in 1994 swept Republicans to control the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years.” The rumor mill in Washington has said the announcement of his selection was being withheld while Bush traveled abroad, but the President now has returned to the U.S.

Quinn Gillespie’s lobbying disclosure forms often list multiple lobbyists for their clients, leaving it unclear as to how involved any one lobbyist was with the client or its issues. But Gillespie is personally listed on forms for numerous companies of interest in tech and telecom. He has represented parties in the DRM debate with conflicting agendas while still drawing 6-figure fees for his firm.

RIAA paid Quinn Gillespie $170,000 in 2001 and an additional $40,000 in 2002, with Ed Gillespie listed as one of the lobbyists. In 2001 one of the issues RIAA hired him to lobby against was the proposed Music Online Competition Act (MOCA) by House Internet Caucus Co-Chmn. Boucher (D-Va.) and Rep. Cannon (R-Utah). The bill would have required comparable access to songs by Web distributors not affiliated with major labels, and the RIAA argued the bill was tantamount to compulsory licenses. In 2002, the forms indicate, Gillespie was lobbying the FCC on the issue of “payola,” or record labels allegedly purchasing air time for songs.

While representing RIAA, Gillespie also has represented Microsoft. The software giant has its own Washington shop as well as several outside lobbyists, but Gillespie was hired to lobby specifically on DRM. Microsoft paid $220,000 in 2001 and $380,000 in 2002. Interestingly, while RIAA was advocating legislation in Congress that would mandate a technology solution for DRM, Microsoft was lobbying actively in opposition to that legislation.

Another copyright client of Gillespie’s, ASCAP, paid his firm $100,000 in 2002 to lobby for a bill by House Judiciary Courts, Internet & Intellectual Property ranking Democrat Berman (D-Cal.) that would have provided legal liability for copyright holders pursuing self-help against digital pirates. Another Gillespie client, Sony, often found itself in the middle of the DRM debate, promoting protection of its Paramount films but resisting mandates on its CE equipment. Sony paid Gillespie $120,000 in 2002 but focused its efforts with the lobbying firm on tax-related issues.

Gillespie has earned fees from 3 Bells, in particular SBC for so-called Tauzin-Dingell legislation that would free Bells from certain FCC regulations. SBC paid $240,000 in 2001 and $320,000 in 2002, with most of that for Tauzin- Dingell. Verizon and BellSouth have signed up Quinn Gillespie only recently and thus weren’t using the firm during the Tauzin-Dingell debate in the 107th Congress, but Verizon Wireless did pay Gillespie $480,000 in 2002 to lobby for increased spectrum availability.

Other Gillespie clients: (1) DirecTV, $480,000 in 2001 and another $480,000 in 2002. (2) U.S. Chamber of Commerce, $140,000 in 2001 and $620,000 in 2002. Among its issues in 2002 was promotion of the Class Action Fairness Act, which did not clear the 107th Congress but is moving in this one. (3) Sabre, a rival of Orbitz, $320,000 in 2002 on computer reservations systems (CRS) rules. (4) Hewlett-Packard, a new registrant for tax issues. (5) VeriSign, a new registrant for monitoring ICANN issues at the Commerce Dept. (6) Gillespie lists numerous clients seeking to renew the privacy preemption of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, including Citigroup, GE Mortgage, Zurich Financial Services and the American Insurance Assn. (WID May 30 p2).

Tangentially related to telecom: Gillespie was a registered lobbyist in 2001 for Enron and took in $905,000 from the now-bankrupt company, an issue likely to be raised by Democrats if Gillespie is formally named to the RNC post.