To: Cory Gault who wrote (19810 ) 6/4/1998 4:08:00 PM From: Daniel Schuh Read Replies (3) | Respond to
Unlike Microsoft, Intel Uses Light Touch in D.C. Dealings washingtonpost.com 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. 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.
