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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John F. Dowd who wrote (66822)	4/8/2002 10:50:55 AM
From: miraje	Respond to of 74651

JFD, did you see this one from the Wichita (KS) Eagle? kansas.com Posted on Fri, Apr. 05, 2002 OUR VIEW Microsoft's foes fueled Stovall's campaign Many Kansans -- including members of The Eagle editorial board -- wish that Attorney General Carla Stovall hadn't joined the multistate lawsuit against Microsoft in the first place, let alone held out for more last fall when all but nine suing states and the District of Columbia signed onto a settlement. Now, as the case's penalty phase plays out in a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., it's not just some Kansans who are questioning the actions of Ms. Stovall regarding Microsoft. Others have begun taking note of a troubling side issue: how Ms. Stovall's gubernatorial campaign has received between $14,000 and $20,000 in contributions from companies and individuals involved in fighting Microsoft. Syndicated columnist Robert Novak mentioned Ms. Stovall in writing this week about the "symbiotic relationship between state attorneys general and Microsoft's foes." And The Wall Street Journal weighed in Wednesday with an editorial titled "Antitryst Suits" that tittered over numerous ways in which the holdout attorneys general are being "caught in flagrante with Microsoft's business competitors." The editorial noted that Ms. Stovall has taken campaign cash from Oracle, two Oracle executives (including CEO Larry Ellison), Sun Microsystems and a lobbyist for Netscape. Ms. Stovall and her supporters have said the contributions were not improper, and Ms. Stovall adamantly defends her decisions both to sue and not to settle as being in the best interests of Kansas consumers. "Had I not done this, Microsoft would have been giving me contributions," Ms. Stovall recently told The Topeka Capital-Journal. At least one of Ms. Stovall's contributors, Netscape lobbyist Mitchell Pettit, isn't shy about linking the donations to her decisions. "I felt very strongly personally that Carla had done the right thing. I'm proud to support her," Mr. Pettit told the Capital- Journal. Though it's hardly reassuring, it's worth noting that Ms. Stovall wasn't the only attorney general to gain the attention and campaign dollars of Microsoft's foes. And not even state Treasurer Tim Shallenburger, a rival for the GOP gubernatorial candidacy who has raised questions about the donations, suggests that Ms. Stovall broke any laws. So maybe this is all just politics as usual, unseemly as it may be. In any case, the day that federal Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly decides how to restrict Microsoft's conduct -- and whether to add the restrictions that Ms. Stovall and her obstinate colleagues advocate -- can't come too soon. -- For the board, Rhonda Holman