“Tech’s early-stage investment in Rep. Kevin McCarthy could produce a prominent payoff for both sides,” Jessica Meyers reports for Politico. “The good-natured California Republican and expected majority leader hasn’t devised many tech-related bills or even hammered away on the industry’s core issues. But he has made frequent pilgrimages to Silicon Valley, befriended prominent tech players and lauded the value of innovation. Now the industry is counting on those ties as it carves out a more entrenched role in Washington.”
“McCarthy preaches a tax-cut mantra tech loves, choosing Facebook in 2011 to decry the burden of over-regulation. He has reinforced a need for high-skilled foreign workers, backed surveillance reform legislation, promoted free trade and helped push through a patent bill last year that industry desired,” Meyers reports. “But the Bakersfield native’s accessibility, more than his voting record, have drawn admiration from the tech industry. McCarthy carts small groups of representatives with him on visits to Google and Engine Advocacy. He has called his office a ‘startup for ideas’ and labeled Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk the ‘Wright brothers of the next generation.’ His top aides have moved on to Northern California successes such as Uber, and he has close working ties with people that now represent companies like Apple and Facebook.”
“Tech companies increasingly have shown their support,” Meyers reports. “Oracle donated $31,500 to McCarthy’s campaign and leadership PAC during the 2012 campaign cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org, making the database company his fourth-highest donor in the last election. Microsoft gave $17,500 to McCarthy in 2012, and Google provided $20,000, up from $8,000 two years prior… Majority Leader Eric Cantor also courted the tech set, but McCarthy’s California background may give him an extra boost. ‘He’s from California and has spent a lot of time in Silicon Valley,’ said Linda Moore, the CEO of TechNet, which counts Apple, Google and Yahoo among its members. ‘So his desire to really know the issues and the effort he put into it is different.'”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Kevin McCarthy, a Republican Democrats can love. He never speaks ill of Obama or Obamacare or any of the daily Constitutional violations committed by Obama. Kevin McCarthy, an excellent leader of the Party that dares not oppose.
From what this article says, he rarely speaks out, period.
“…daily Constitutional violations committed by Obama”
*rolls eyes*… Time to step out of the far right echo-chamber of disinformation.
He certainly is a populist politician to appeal to all parties.
I
They didn’t do Cantor much good.
Obama Constitutional Violation du jour:
“tHE dOg aTE mY harDdRivE.” – Lois Lerner
Nazi Party – “Blame the Jews for everything”
Republican Party – “Blame the liberals for everything”
Same sh*t, different century, same pinheads. Nothing changes.
“Nothing changes.”
…and cynics, such as yourself, are probably the greatest contributors to the apathy that destroys change.
A rare bird. We hardly know what a Republican or conservative is out here in California. There is no balance. And the state suffers greatly.