The lobbyists knew that they were stuck between two diehard enemies, the U.S. Chamber and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA). With the engineering mindset of their industry, the tech lobbyists were trying to find a middle ground, a reasonable bill that would pass and achieve some of their objectives.

What they sought was relatively uncontroversial: they wanted a bill that created one consistent Federal law for the entire country, that would make their contracts with their clients the point of legal reference, and that would weed out frivolous litigation by ensuring that plaintiffs were claiming that their software contained a material defect. And they wanted it in the first half of this year.

Priding themselves on their apolitical pragmatism, the high-tech representatives didn't see the point in losing the modest goals they wanted just because the Chamber's bill was so far-reaching. So they reached out to the House and Senate on their own -- without the explicit knowledge of the U.S. Chamber and their other allies in the coalition.

Capitol Hill staffers saw the tech lobbyists' sincerity, their moderation, their willingness to be reasonable -- but they also saw that they weren't really sure of their role in Washington yet. The high-tech lobby wasn't yet powerful enough to cobble together a majority on its own -- certainly not against the wishes and behind the back of the Chamber.

Almost all of the high-tech lawyers and lobbyists I spoke with expressed anger and frustration with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which was, according to one Senate staffer, "driving this thing." One said that, when the coalition was working on the Y2K issue, the Chamber was indifferent to anything the high-tech representatives had to say. "It was kind of like, 'Go away, kid, don't bother me,' " the attorney said.

"They want tort reform and they're using us," added another.

"[The high-tech lobbyists] realize now that you can't trust people who say they're your friends," says an ATLA staffer. "Sometimes people who say they're your friends are not really. You gotta watch out who you make deals with."

"Working with the Chamber was not a decision that was mine personally, I assure you. We all know the animosity between this Chamber and this administration," one tech lobbyist says. And a high-tech attorney points out that one industry leader -- American Electronics Association president Archey -- was ousted from leadership of the Chamber in '94 because he expressed a willingness to work with the Clinton Administration on health care reform.

"They're feeling their growing pains right now, getting into the big bad world of Washington lobbying," says Sally Greenberg of the Consumers Union, which opposed the McCain bill.

A few days ago, some of the high-tech lobbyists started working hard behind the scenes to find a middle ground. "We will fall on our sword to get this bill passed," one high-tech lobbyist told me on Monday." If a bill comes up that meets our needs, we will support it -- and if that means breaking from the coalition, we will do that. We are not here to make a point, we are here to get a bill passed. We have the most to lose, and yet we want the least [in a] bill."

But at least one member of the District of Columbia tech lobby was stunned that some of his brethren were attempting to deal behind the Chamber's back -- especially when he heard that one of them had talked to ATLA.

"Some of the behind-the-scenes negotiations that are going on by some members of the tech community are naove," the representative said this week. "Any suggestion that the tech community could pull a deal with the trial lawyers is just stupid. Is there a way for some Democrats to separate themselves from other Democrats and pass a bill? The answer is yes. Has the Chamber handled this well? No -- they've made this partisan from the outset. But the fact is, if you're going to get a bill, and you have 52 Republican votes, in the process of getting eight Democrats you can't lose 20 Republicans. It's just simple math. When you go out and start doing deals with ATLA, you immediately lose votes."

By Wednesday afternoon, members of the world's foremost deliberative body had deliberated, and Dodd, McCain, Wyden, Hatch, Feinstein and Robert Bennett, R-Utah, had hashed out a compromise which will not only easily garner 60 cloture votes, but may even earn 67, easily overriding any presidential veto. The compromise removes the cap on punitive damages (except for small businesses), strikes the section of the bill that placed a cap on the liability of directors and officers of a company, and defers to each state's law on a case's standard of proof.

The Dodd-McCain compromise should pass the Senate next week. But before high-tech industrialists pop their champagne corks, they should know that all the finagling their lobbyists have been doing behind the scenes has earned their industry a great deal of animosity. The source of the bile isn't ATLA or its friends in the Senate -- it's coming from their own coalition allies.

"They put their own selfish interests ahead of those of business at large," says a high-powered lobbyist who belongs to the Y2K business coalition. In between today and the compromise bill's cloture vote, this lobbyist cautions, "High tech better not go too far. If there's a hint of them trying to cut deals with the Democrats, [the Y2K provisions of the bill] will die. And then you will see a very highly-coordinated campaign against them."

High tech was always suspect, the lobbyist explains -- not only since "most of their money goes to Democrats" but because "every step of the way they were trying to cut these little deals to undercut what we're doing." And they still are, the lobbyist says: He just heard that high-tech lobbyists have been reaching out to House Republicans to urge them to support the Dodd-McCain compromise.

If they don't watch out, the lobbyist says, the Chamber and others might get the high-tech community's provisions dropped from the bill once it reaches the conference committee stage of legislation, when the differences between the House and Senate bills are ironed out.

"After we're done with Y2K, we're going to figure out a way to get them payback," the lobbyist says.

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