-Caveat Lector- http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/special_reports/mojo_400/tech.html CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LIST OF ALL 400 DONORS http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/special_reports/mojo_400/browse.html DIG INTO THE 400 Search the 400 by donor, state, industry, party, or recipient. http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/special_reports/mojo_400/search.html OR Browse the list by rank. http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/special_reports/mojo_400/browse.html THE HIGH TECH INDUSTRY The top contributors in this industry are: 14. David Shimmon off-track betting 19. Steven Kirsch "the current system sucks" 21. Michael Perik software's soft money 26. David Bohnett from Yahoo to Stonewall 31. John Chambers the Cisco kid All contributors in this industry Mother Jones March 5, 2001 MoJo 400: Silicon Battleground Special Report High-tech executives have become major campaign donors -- and their politics are not what you might expect. A special feature from our MoJo 400 campaign finance project. by Sara Miles Silicon Valley has been heralded as the Holy Grail of political fundraising since the Internet boom took off in 1995. A new and untapped industry without entrenched party loyalties, hyped to the hilt, and run by young, politically naive bazillionaires -- it seemed a bagman's dream. Both Democrats and Republicans, drawn by the lure of cold cash and the romance of the hot new thing, flocked to the Valley seeking supporters. The conservative "New Democrats" of the Democratic Leadership Council and New Democrat Network got their foothold first, proclaiming a pro-business, pro-trade, pro-choice, pro-immigrant, pro-gay rights, and antiunion message they pitched to resonate with Northern California's young entrepreneurs. With the support of Silicon Valley's preeminent venture capitalist, John Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (No. 55, $477,500), the Democrats assembled a brain trust of influential CEOs labeled "Gore-Techs," who lent their cyber-cool to then-Vice President Al Gore. Leaders of the Internet era like Steven Kirsch of Infoseek (No. 19, $655,000) and Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen (No. 71, $404,000) gave increasing amounts of cash to the party. The White House and New Democrats in Congress responded with support for high tech's agenda, including more visas for foreign high-tech workers, a moratorium on Internet taxes, tax credits for research and development, and support for free trade with China. "This administration really gets it," said a satisfied Doerr. As the 2000 campaign heated up, however, things began to change. The final figures show that Republicans took in $18 million from high tech -- almost as much as the $19.9 million raised by Democrats. The near parity is shocking, given that the Valley was essentially Gore's to lose. Bush put together a national high-tech advisory council that raised money from the computer industry. But an increasingly disorganized Gore campaign -- as well as what Valley boys perceived as the vice president's postconvention "populism" -- also drove techies into the compassionate embrace of the Republicans. "When Gore said the stock market was like playing 'roulette,' it was the kiss of death," says a Democratic political consultant who raised money for Gore in Silicon Valley. "Why is he dissing the stock market? It makes everyone think he doesn't understand the New Economy, that he's big government all over again." No such fears with George W. Bush, who crowed to a high-tech crowd, "If I am president, I will always take the side of... private initiative over federal regulation." His rhetoric cheered high-tech businessmen like John Chambers of Cisco Systems (No. 31, $582,933), Michael Dell of Dell Computer in Austin (No. 104, $328,000), and Valley titan and former Netscape CEO James Barksdale (No. 252, $212,000). What donor in this industry wants to wire schools -- and profit from running them? Although the brash, baseball-capped CEO of ClickAction, Gregory Slayton (who contributed just $22,985 of his own money to Republicans), evangelized for Bush in the Valley and raised the Texas governor's profile among younger entrepreneurs, Bush's biggest high-tech supporters don't run startups. The business-to-business corporation J.D. Edwards, whose chief, C. Edward McVaney (No. 115, $312,000), gave to the Republicans, has spent the last 20 years providing software for companies like Mobil, Chevron, and R.J. Nabisco; the firm's fortunes are directly tied to those of the finance, pharmaceutical, automotive, and utilities industries. Richard Egan (No. 101, $331,100), a former Lockheed and Honeywell executive, chairs the EMC Corporation, which plans to spend $1.7 billion researching software by the end of this year -- an incentive to seek more generous R&D tax credits from the Bush administration. Such techies are joined in their donations to Republicans by mainstream venture capitalists and investment bankers who specialize in tech deals, including Rockwell Schnabel (No. 194, $256,100) of Trident Capital and Thomas Weisel (No. 185, $260,000), a former executive with the investment firm of Montgomery Securities. Newly retired Internet millionaires tend to have reasons less immediately self-interested and more ideological for backing Bush. James Kimsey (No. 69), the founder and retired chairman of AOL, gave a total of $406,350, three-fourths of it to Republicans. A flashy and outspoken former Army Ranger, Kimsey has strong conservative opinions and uses his wealth to twist arms in Congress and to conduct his own international diplomacy. "If you mealy-mouth around," Kimsey told Newsweek in 1999 after a controversial visit to China during which he met with senior military leaders, "you're not effective." Kenneth Eldred (No. 25, $617,500), a founder of business-to-business leader Ariba, Inc. and former CEO of the computer marketer Inmac, has an even longer-term agenda. Eldred says his current network of telecommunications and software companies is run by people with Christian values, and the profits are reinvested to spread the gospel in countries like China and India. "We're sort of sneaking our way up the tiger's tail," he says. The donations he and his wife made to Bush, he adds, stem from spiritual, rather than corporate, concerns. "I have no financial interest in this man being president," says the high-tech executive, who opposes abortion and supports school vouchers. "We looked to George Bush as someone who can reestablish the values in our nation." Over the next four years, the influence of techies is only likely to increase. Andreessen, the Netscape co-founder, has spoken publicly about the difference between the value of money in the world of politics and in Silicon Valley, where an investment of $250,000 is seen as not "serious." And he has a point -- one his Republican counterparts are well aware of. It cost just over $152,000 to make it onto the Mother Jones 400 -- and for the thousands of new millionaires that have been created in Silicon Valley, that's likely to seem a serious bargain. 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