Democratic Congressman Ami Bera (Calif.) is celebrating the fact that Amazon, Facebook, Google and other tech companies have formed a new industry trade group, under the leadership of a former Google lobbyist, to advocate for policies that will come before him in the U.S. House.
In a press release announcing the companies’ new group, the Chamber of Progress, Bera is quoted: “New Democrats are excited to work with the Chamber of Progress in defining the next chapter of tech policy.” Bera is the vice chair for outreach of the New Democrat Coalition, an influential bloc of 94 moderate House Democrats that was formed in the mid-90s in an effort to shift the Democratic party away from populist, left-wing policies and toward a more business-friendly, Clintonian agenda. It’s unusual for an elected representative to give an industry lobbying group a quote to use for its launch press materials.
Bera is a member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, which has jurisdiction over the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy that advises the president on tech policy. He’s also a member of the committee’s 7-person Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee that has special investigative authority over all the technology and science issues covered by the committee.
The Chamber of Progress has deep ties to the New Democrat Coalition. It was founded by Adam Kovacevich, a former Democratic staffer who worked for the founding chairman of the coalition, Cal Dooley, and was a founding staff member of the coalition in the 90’s. Kovacevich also worked for Sen. Joe Lieberman, another early New Democrat.
Kovacevich worked on government affairs for Google for more than a decade, and from 2010 until 2013, a period when the company was facing a Federal Trade Commission investigation on its anticompetitive practices, he was in charge of competition and antitrust policy for the company.
