When it comes to political giving, James W. Hazel has an enviable Rolodex. He’s the lobbyist for America Online and the Northern Virginia Technology Council. Hazel also chairs a Greater Washington Board of Trade political action committee. It’s even in his blood: His father is influential developer and activist John   T. "Til" Hazel. "Just about every elected official in the state has called me, from conservative Republican to liberal Democrat, about raising money from the tech industry," the younger Hazel says. "Come December, the push will be on. And the tech community will respond."

Lt. Gov. John Hager has met one-on-one with tech execs, soliciting donations. Photo courtesy Richmond Times-Dispatch

The 2001 elections, still a year away, already are a high-water mark for contributions by the technology industry, proof that dot-commonwealth upstarts are elbowing into the turf of traditional contributors like utilities, trial lawyers and tobacco companies. The sheer wealth concentrated in the tech community and the dramatic expansion of tech businesses in just the past few years is changing the political dynamic in Virginia. "Nasdaq has made the tech community a real business community," observes Jon Gould, assistant professor of government and public policy at George Mason University in Fairfax. "Other than companies like AOL, Microsoft, Cisco and Oracle, a lot of tech companies were folks taking a flyer and not being sure if they would be around in a few years." Now they’re here to stay, and they want to wield political muscle.

At stake next year are the jobs of governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, plus 100 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates. Campaigns depend heavily on paid media and get more expensive each cycle. Where better to look than Northern Virginia, home to high-tech entrepreneurs and the state’s newest millionaires?

Northern Virginia political money, increasingly fueled by tech money, "has always been a sleeping giant," says David Poole, a former newspaper reporter who runs the Virginia Public Access Project, a database of political contributions. But encouraged by a Republican governor and energized by a Democratic venture capitalist seeking the state’s top job, Virginia’s high-tech community is tapping its collective checkbook.

The checks are starting to add up. In the 1993 governor’s race, Republican George Allen and Democrat Mary Sue Terry together raised about $230,000 from technology executives. Four years later, Democrat Don Beyer and Republican Jim Gilmore together raised more than $1.1 million in tech gifts. Sixteen months before the 2001 election, the three gubernatorial hopefuls — Republican Attorney General Mark Earley, Republican Lt. Gov. John Hager and Democrat Mark Warner — together had raised more from technology and venture capital sources than Beyer and Gilmore combined. And the bulk of fund raising is still to come.

2001 Gubernatorial candidate Mark Warner has already raised $1 million from the tech community. Photo courtesy Richmond Times-Dispatch

It makes sense that the tech execs are ponying up cash for next year’s governor’s race. Warner, a venture capitalist from Alexandria, comes from its ranks and clinched a near monopoly on early technology giving, collecting $1 million of the $1.3 million raised by gubernatorial candidates from the tech community. "They have seen one of their own colleagues offer himself up for public service," says Doug Koelemay, public affairs vice president for the Northern Virginia Technology Council. Warner, says campaign manager Steve Jarding, "walks the walk."

While Warner has tied up the early technology money, the Earley and Hager campaigns won’t concede easily. The Republican hopefuls expect to benefit from their associations with Gilmore, who gets kudos for burrowing into tech issues. Gilmore created the first cabinet-level technology post, led a national commission opposing taxes on Internet sales and nudged legislators into passing the nation’s first state law governing e-commerce and computer information transactions. "Gilmore as a candidate recognized the importance of the tech industry, made commitments and followed through on them," says Hazel, who helped Gilmore’s gubernatorial campaign. Earley and Hager, both elected with Gilmore in 1997, can argue they are the logical successors to the Gilmore legacy.

That so much money has been committed by one industry so early in the campaign reflects the dramatic change in the state’s economy. These fast-growing companies want a say in issues that affect their employees, their bottom lines and the way they do business. In addition to giving, technology companies have stepped up their lobbying presence in Richmond and are working together to promote legislation through the Northern Virginia Technology Council and other regional and state alliances.

Their interests are twofold: promoting legislation and issues helpful to their industries and warding off potentially harmful government regulation. "Technology is now the engine driving the economy of the state," says Michael A. Daniels, sector vice president for Science Applications International Corp. in Herndon and former chairman of Network Solutions in McLean. He sees the 2001 elections as critical. "There is a more organized effort in the tech community to go to political leaders and say, ‘We need to be heard.’"

Ignoring politics is just too dangerous, technology executives say. Tim Hugo, who runs the federal tech-focused political action committee CapNet, won’t forget the warning he heard from Compaq CEO Mike Capellas: "Just because you ignore government doesn’t mean government is going to ignore you." Emerging technology issues — privacy, taxation, broadband access — are in the spotlight, says Hugo. "We have to do a good job explaining what our issues are because if government doesn’t understand, they could pose an impediment to the growth."

Few understand that better than executives at Microsoft. The software giant had been a modest player in federal elections until the Justice Department initiated its antitrust investigation two years ago. The Center for Responsive Politics reports that by the time a federal judge ordered Microsoft split into two separate companies in July, Microsoft had contributed more to federal parties and candidates for the 2000 elections than in three previous election cycles combined. Other technology companies followed suit, marking what the center calls a turning point in the computer industry’s political activity.

Attorney General Mark Earley believes government cannot apply the old rules of taxation and regulation to the tech industry. Photo courtesy Richmond Times-Dispatch

"That was a wake-up call," says Edwin Bender, who follows state and federal giving through the National Institute for Money in State Politics. "[Microsoft] realized they need to be a player because the case has a huge effect on their bottom line." Even with the stepped-up activity, the tech industry nationally hasn’t made a mark as quickly as the industry has in Virginia. Federal laws limit individual gifts to candidates, but the sky’s the limit in Virginia — $25,000 here, $25,000 there, and soon you’re talking about serious money.

Tech leaders also say there’s a whole set of state-controlled issues that affect their companies. While Congress handles big-ticket commerce and trade matters, Virginia politicians control state tax and quality-of-life issues. Virginia’s tech community wants to hear as much about education, work-force training and transportation as they do about Internet policy.

Not surprisingly, all three gubernatorial candidates are developing policy positions on those issues. Warner has matched philanthropy with his technology interests, establishing regional venture capital funds and creating programs that link students with jobs and help people learn to use computers. Much of his emphasis has been on education, an issue campaign manager Jarding says resonates in the tech community. "This is a group that is nervous about the lack of trained workers, the capacity to attract people with the right skills, training and education and the [shortage] of qualified teachers in math and science."

Earley is keeping pace. The attorney general’s office handles far more technology-related issues today than it did just four years ago, delving into areas like computer crimes and Internet-related consumer fraud. Earley believes that government needs to be thoughtful in its approach to the expanding industry. "It’s very important that federal and state governments don’t go rushing into this new tech arena applying old paradigms of regulation and taxation that were created decades ago for other economies like agriculture and industry," he says.

Hager, who like Warner and Earley has been meeting one-on-one with tech execs to solicit contributions, believes Virginia needs a strategy to avoid what campaign manager Reed Boatright calls "Silicon Valley burnout" — such as transportation gridlock and high housing costs. "John clearly recognizes the success that’s been born over the last decade is fragile, and we need to do everything we can, not only to make sure we keep people here, but that we keep the spirit of what companies came for without ruining it."

Relationships and candidates’ stance on the issues will likely be determining factors as tech execs weigh their political giving. While other groups of contributors are often driven more by ideology or political party, this emerging breed of givers is markedly less partisan. Proxicom founder Raul Fernandez served on the staff of U.S. Republican Rep. Jack Kemp in the 1980s and spoke at the GOP convention this summer. Yet in the 2001 Virginia governor’s race, his $25,000 check went to Democrat Mark Warner. Similarly, executives who contributed to Democrat Beyer in 1997 have since given to Gilmore’s Republican political action committees or have given locally to Republican House of Delegates candidates.

"Partisanship, for them, is a hindrance. It’s more, ‘Who knows about my industry?’" says the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s Koelemay. Republicans traditionally have a limited government view while Democrats get credit for education and worker training. All appeal to the tech community. Koelemay cites this year’s Republican takeover of the House of Delegates that gave the GOP control of both chambers: His group enjoyed a seamless relationship with both the Democratic and Republican leaderships. "If they [politicians] work and they know what they’re doing, these tech guys shrug and say, ‘So what?’"

Daniels, the SAIC executive, agrees. He served in the Reagan and Bush administrations and was an early Gilmore supporter in 1997, though he also contributed to Beyer and Democratic attorney general candidate Bill Dolan. "In the tech industry there is less ideology and more of, ‘Who are the particular candidates who actually are helpful and understand what the tech industry needs to generate millions of new jobs?’"

Another consideration in the tech community’s anticipated involvement is a purely political one. In Virginia, scrutiny of political gifts is part of the sport of campaigns. Republicans drew fire in 1995 for $125,000 in contributions to legislative races from Smithfield Foods CEO Joseph W. Luter III, whose company faced massive pollution charges at the time and was later fined $12.6 million. Virginia Democrats similarly were tarred in a campaign money scandal involving Roger Tamraz, a U.S. businessman with extensive Middle East experience. Tamraz tried to influence the Clinton Administration to approve his project to build an oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Turkey. In an unusual move, Tamraz ended up donating a total $100,000 to the state Democratic Party, which it later returned because of the scandal.

Is there a similar downside to contributions from the tech industry? "Not yet," says Hazel. In areas such as Loudoun County, no-growth activists blame technology companies for causing the development explosion. But for the most part, candidates are happy to be associated with tech execs and their forward-looking ideas, high-wage jobs and "clean" industries. And few are likely to criticize technology money: Most candidates would love to have some.