High-Tech Lobbyist Mulls Senate Run

The head of one of the leading technology lobbying groups in Washington, D.C., is considering a run this year for one of the U.S. Senate seats in Virginia, as reported last week by Federal Computer Week online.

Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America, which represents 350 high-tech companies, may challenge incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen in the upcoming election in November.

Miller has been outspoken on numerous information technology issues, including offshore outsourcing, security clearances for federal contractors, intellectual property rights and privacy. He recently chided the federal government for not providing radio spectrum for first responders to communicate better during disasters, a problem that was heightened by the response to Hurricane Katrina. (Go to “Help For Emergency Responders,”)

Miller ran unsuccessfully for a House seat in 1984. However, Democratic Party operatives in Virginia, typically a Republican stronghold, were bolstered by Democratic Governor-elect Tim Kaine’s victory in November, which was viewed as an approval of Democratic Gov. Mark Warner and a rebuke of Republican policies on the federal level. Warner and James Webb, a former Secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan, reportedly have been considering running for the seat as well.

By Allan Holmes