Microsoft vs. Teachers: How Lopsided Lobby Spending can Kill a Good Bill

The fight over House Bill 2892 illustrates the importance of lobby spending.  The legislation appears to be dead despite its potential to save Oregon money.

Lobbyists opposing HB 2892 represent Microsoft, the American Electronics Association (AEA), and Initiative for Software Choice (ISC). In 2002, Microsoft gave $5000 to the Kulongoski campaign, and the AEA gave just shy of $39,000 to legislative candidates and $24,850 to the four leadership PACs that work to elect candidates for each caucus.

Microsoft first registered as a lobbyist employer in Oregon in 2000, and has spent $39,000 since. The AEA spent $372,476 from 1997 to 2002 to influence state legislation. We won't know how much money either organization--or the new player, ISC--is spending to lobby now until January 2004--the next time they are required to disclose their expenses.

The proponents of HB 2892, teachers and technology experts interested in the cost savings and other benefits of open-source software, have made no campaign contributions, nor have they hired lobbyists. Maybe the lopsided spending explains why--even after a work group resolved the concerns of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services--this idea seems to have caught a bad virus in Salem.