Gorton Goes To Bat For Microsoft On Capitol Hill Senator Blasts Justice Department, Says Colleague Is Favoring Utah Firm

Acknowledging that Microsoft faces serious problems from a hostile Congress, Washington Sen. Slade Gorton criticized fellow Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch and the Justice Department on Wednesday and vowed to take on a new and aggressive role as a champion of the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant.

Gorton said he had raised concerns about Microsoft’s “relatively unsophisticated” public relations and lobbying efforts during a meeting he had sought with company Chairman Bill Gates earlier this month and that he had proposed a series of steps to help.

Gorton said he plans to make a speech on the Senate floor, send a letter to members of Congress, make himself available to the national news media and stage events on behalf of Microsoft.

Gorton’s comments reflect more than a senator supporting a prominent constituent. They come at the opening of a congressional session in which Microsoft is facing scrutiny on top of the company’s legal pressures and negative publicity.

Microsoft has been beefing up its presence in the nation’s capital, most recently by hiring former Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour as a consultant and a counterweight to former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., who has been retained by several companies that compete with Microsoft.

Utah’s Hatch has become a prominent critic of Microsoft. He held a hearing on competition in the software industry last fall, and his staff is collecting Microsoft documents in anticipation of more hearings this spring.

“Sen. Hatch enjoys representing a particular constituent, and given his chairmanship of the (Senate) Judiciary Committee, he can have hearings whenever he wishes,” Gorton said. The phrase “particular constituent” is an apparent allusion to Novell, a company in Hatch’s home state that competes with Microsoft in the manufacturing of server operating systems, networking software and e-mail.

“I do have the ability to provide a place here in the Capitol for Microsoft to be able to make its case in a more open and fair forum than is likely in the Judiciary Committee,” Gorton said.

In an interview, Hatch rejected Gorton’s criticism and said he expects to continue looking into Microsoft’s practices.

Asked about an allegation by Gorton’s staff that his committee is about to subpoena Microsoft documents, Hatch said, “I don’t know that we are planning on subpoenaing documents. We may if it comes to that.”

“Yes, Novell is in my state, but so are a raft of others, and then there are the people in the Silicon Valley in California, and we’ve had literally hundreds of them confidentially complaining because they’re afraid of Microsoft,” Hatch said. “A lot of people in the industry are intimidated and afraid to testify, afraid to give statements. But it’s no use kidding - there appear to be some antitrust violations.”

Hatch said that because his committee oversees the Justice Department, he has a responsibility to monitor antitrust issues.

“All we want is for the law to be enforced,” he said. “One company controls the operating system for the whole country, and that’s Microsoft, and if they are leveraging their position in operating systems to engage in anti-competitive acts that are violative of the antitrust laws, then it’s incumbent on the Justice Department to rectify that.”

Hatch said he believes the Justice Department’s case against Microsoft already has been successful because Microsoft has agreed to make a version of Windows 95 available in which the company’s World Wide Web browser is hidden.

“Already, Microsoft has had to agree in open court to some changes because it looked as though they were trying to eliminate any competition in the browser market,” Hatch said. “Already, the efforts of the Justice Department have been fruitful.”

But Gorton blasted the Justice Department’s case against Microsoft, which, along with Boeing, is one of Washington state’s most prominent corporate citizens. Microsoft employs 24,000 people worldwide, of whom 13,000 live in Washington state.

“I’m seriously concerned about the impact of this Justice Department frolic on U.S. inventiveness and international competition,” Gorton said.

But a Justice Department official who asked not to be identified defended the government’s case against Microsoft.

“Our only goal is to promote full and fair competition and to prevent Microsoft from illegally violating its agreement with us,” the official said, referring to a 1995 document Microsoft signed in which the company agreed not to engage in anti-competitive practices.

Even though there is no anti-Microsoft legislation pending in Congress, the company’s partisans say its position is unenviable.

“Microsoft is in trouble,” said Tony Williams, Gorton’s chief of staff. “I can’t point to anything specific, but you just know that if a group of people in Washington are poised to pound on you, that’s not something you want to happen.”

Rep. Rick White, R-Wash., whose district includes Microsoft headquarters, welcomed Gorton’s assistance. He said Microsoft is viewed more positively in the House, where Gates has met several times with House Speaker Newt Gingrich, than in the Senate.

“It’s unfortunate there are certain people in the Senate who are giving in to this vendetta against Microsoft,” White said. “I have the sense that Sen. Hatch and maybe some others have heard from some of their constituents who have been beaten by Microsoft in the marketplace, and so they want to beat Microsoft in the political arena.”

That point - that Microsoft’s competitors are exploiting the political process - was echoed by Microsoft spokesman Mark Murray.

Murray insisted that the software industry is quite competitive, citing statistics showing that Microsoft represents only 4 percent of the country’s software industry and that from 1990 to 1996, the number of U.S. software companies rose from 24,000 to 44,000.

“There’s no question that for the past year, our competitors have been crawling all over Washington, D.C., trying to whip up antiMicrosoft sentiment,” Murray said.