Sleeper Cell Skulduggery - Domestic Edition

From that article:

High-tech executives who have contributed heavily to the Democratic Party in the past are fighting mad over the Clinton administration's change of position on an immigration-reform bill they say is their highest priority.

Information-technology groups yesterday warned that if the White House continues to block passage of the bill, which would allow more temporary visas for skilled foreign workers, their campaign support for the administration could be in jeopardy.

It appears that the high tech crowd at first thought that things were going well on compromise legislation involving - what else - raising caps on H-1B visas, but they didn't have enough House support to take care of a potential veto by Bill Clinton. 

According to the article, the Senate had already passed an H-1B bill months before thanks to an "aggressive push" by none other than Republican Senator Spencer Abraham. 

This is a bit of an aside, but until now it's been a point of speculation. Recall that Miller donated to Abraham directly, and I outlined his relationship with Miller in a recent diary.  Also, ITAA's PAC gave to Abraham in 2000.  Furthermore, in 2000 the PAC gave to six individuals, five of whom were Republicans.

The PAC was relatively small then, but here's the breakdown:

ABRAHAM, SPENCER  SENATE  Republican MI  2,000
CONRAD, KENT  SENATE  Democrat ND  250
DAVIS, THOMAS M  HOUSE  Republican VA  500
HASTERT, J DENNIS HOUSE  Republican IL  2,484
KOLBE, JAMES T  HOUSE  Republican AZ  1,000
MCCAIN, JOHN S  PRESIDENT Republican AZ  750

MILLER, HARRIS N  ITAA  2,500  04/01/1999
MILLER, HARRIS N  ITAA  2,500  03/06/2000
GREENFIELD, GARY  MERANT CORP  1,000  05/01/1999
MILLER, HARRIS N  ITAA  750  09/01/2000
GRKAVAC, OLGA  ITAA  600  07/01/2000
ENGLUND, JON  ITAA  500  08/20/1999
COLTON, DAVID  ITAA  250  09/01/2000
GRKAVAC, OLGA  ITAA  250  05/16/2000 

Harris Miller gave $5,750 to the ITAA PAC.  Without bothering to weight, knock off the full $250 to Kent Conrad.

Hence, Harris Miller, self-proclaimed Democratic activist for campaign purposes, contributed over $5,500 to Republicans in 2000.

Stealthy, but probably legal.

For public consumption it looks like he made about $12,000 in contributions to Democrats.  Those contributions were not filtered through the PAC. I haven't done the calculations for the remaining years.

The PAC was so small that year, and there were so few contributors, that it is easy to see how it works.

Anyway, the House bill would have increased the maximum number of temporary H-1B visas granted yearly to skilled workers from 65,000 to 115,000 over a period of three years. Heavy users of H-1B visas would be required to attest that they have not displaced American workers to hire foreign workers.  Both the Clinton White House and some Republicans wanted those additional provisions.

The White House had supported raising the cap, they surprised Miller with the veto threat and requested a number of addtional conditions.

One of these conditions was to give the Department of Labor authority to investigate compliance of the visa program.  They also wanted to require that hiring companies pay $500 for each immigrant to fund it.

Miller was furious about this, and stated, "If the president continues to stand in the way of this bill, he will face a terrible backlash."

"To come in at the eleventh hour with nickel-and-dime complaints about this bill will leave a bad taste in the mouths of Silicon Valley executives."

Burn wrote that Republican leaders had accused the White House of caving in at the last minute to labor groups, who believed the H-1B program exploited foreign workers and displaced American workers.

It looks like the White House was on to Miller's spin.  According to an aide, there were doubts about the technology industry's claims of a widespread worker shortage.  A recurring theme in the material from this time period reflects this concern on the part of various worker organizations.  They were also very distressed that they were not being heard and in some cases felt that they were being shut out of the conversation at the very least.

According to Burn's article, the ITAA claimed that more than 190,000 positions were unfilled.  Not only did labor organizations doubt the shortage claims, Miller's calculations were cast in doubt by a GAO report.

Jack Siewart, communications director at the White House's National Economic Council at the time stated, "We've indicated that we are willing to raise the cap as long as we also provide more training for U.S. workers, and make sure the system is not abused."

Though the Clinton administration has sought to cultivate its relationship with the high-tech community, its support has already started to slip in the wake of Mr. Clinton's veto two years ago of securities-litigation reform.

Timothy Burn went on to examine the financials of the high-tech industry's lobbying history.  He noted that historically the industry had given more to Democrats, but for the first time they were contributing more to Republicans.

Here's his breakdown:

  Republicans Democrats
1995-96 election cycle  $551,450 $719,202
1997-98 election cycle  $832,093 $703,718

Burn interviewed Jennifer Shecter of the Center for Responsive Politics.  According to her, "Silicon Valley is reaching out to Republican lawmakers, and Republican lawmakers are reaching back."

She continues, "In the last several months, key Republicans, including (House Speaker) Newt Gingrich, have made trips out to Silicon Valley and met in person with CEOs to assure them that the H-1B issue is a top priority for the GOP leadership."

Miller also said, "The Republican Party has realized that the future growth of this economy depends partly on the success of the information-technology industry. They have reached out to us and we have responded."

And Miller closed with, "I hope the Clinton administration is taking notice."

Well.  When we take out country back, historians may determine whether or not the reversal of high-tech support was a major factor in the 2000 election.

Meanwhile, let me say this.  Virginians are noticing. 

And since we still have Free Speech, I'll wrap this up with the lyrics to a song.  Just because I can.

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