CES proves valuable in national politics

Erin Neff

Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2003 | 9:02 a.m.

Each year politicians flock to the Consumer Electronics Show to check out the industry's latest offerings and to curry favor with the tech industry's movers and shakers.

The 2003 show, running Thursday through Sunday, is no different. Twenty-five politicians will be intertwining gadgetry and government during this year's show.

"CES has really become a place where anyone in technology policy comes," said Jeff Joseph, a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association, which sponsors and manages the world's largest consumer technology trade show.

"The government officials need to see, touch and feel the technology that they are regulating and making decisions about."

For Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., it's a chance not only to explore ways to control children's access to sites on the Internet but also to help his party learn more about the industry.

"He's looking to interact on consumer electronics issues as best he can," said Ensign spokesman Jack Finn.

Ensign chairs the Republicans' High Tech Task Force and serves on the communications subcommittee of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. The subcommittee oversight includes telecommunications policy, the Federal Communications Commission and public broadcasting.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., will be at the show, as a member of the hosting state's delegation and also to take part in a congressional roundtable discussion of the latest technology policy issues.

Joseph said CEA continues to woo lawmakers from both sides of the aisle despite the Republican Party's official takeover of both houses of Congress this week for the start of the 108th session.

"At the end of the day, technology policy is not a partisan issue," Joseph said.

Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and John Doolittle, R-Calif., will moderate a session on the fight for fair use of telecommunications.

A congressional panel at the show will feature Ensign, Berkley and 14 other lawmakers. The panel's eight Republicans and eight Democrats bring to the table a wide range of interests and backgrounds, everything from telecommunications and taxation to the judiciary.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell and FCC Commissioners Kevin Martin and Jonathan Adelstein will also attend. Two Federal Trade Commission members and Environmental Protection Agency Director Christie Whitman will all attend for the Bush administration.