Unlike Microsoft, Intel Uses Light Touch in D.C. Dealings washingtonpost.com
Another compare and contrast story on everybody's favorite co-conspirators. It talks about a few issues that come up from time to time here.
Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. appear to be in quite similar predicaments, facing litigation that could reshape their billion-dollar businesses. Yet their strategies in responding to their respective run-ins with official Washington could scarcely be more different. While Microsoft's confrontation with the Justice Department has become bitter and highly public, Intel's investigation by the Federal Trade Commission has hummed along for nine months at a frequency so low that until last week -- when the agency signaled a likely lawsuit against the chip giant -- few Americans had even heard about it.
Why the difference? Experts say it boils down to a matter of style. In contrast to Microsoft's guns-drawn tactics, they say, Intel executives and lawyers have stuck to a playbook they've used through years of negotiations with politicians and regulators: Keep it quiet, never let things get emotional, and be just as chummy as possible.
"They haven't gratuitously taken shots at enforcers the way Microsoft has," said Kevin Arquit, a former FTC lawyer now in private practice. "It doesn't take an antitrust attorney to tell you how counterproductive that can be."
On the topic of that world class lobbying machine that Bill's going to have in place Real Soon Now:
Microsoft officials have quietly griped that their problems in the nation's capital stem from their unwillingness to spread enough money around the city. But Microsoft currently outspends Intel in contributions to political action committees and it employs far more lobbyists, according to Alan Shuldiner of the Center for Responsive Politics. In 1997, for instance, Intel spent $600,000 on outside lobbyists, less than a third of the $1.9 million spent by Microsoft.
Intel, say observers, is more savvy about getting a lobbying bang for its buck. While Microsoft has been reluctant to establish a corporate lobbying presence in Washington, Intel has had an office here since 1986. Its longtime representative, Mike Maibach, gets high marks from association heads for understanding the light touch often required in the delicate art of getting one's way.
Poor Bill, it's all so unfair. Nobody likes a ruthess cutthroat whining crybaby.
Cheers, Dan. |
