Warlord
07-06-2013, 07:54 AM
http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/noda/actions/201203/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2012/03/30/29KONDAN_Zuckerberg2.jpg?w=496&s=100000
SAN FRANCISCO — The tech industry is united in its push for immigration reform and increased visas for high-skilled workers.
It’s just not as sure about Joe Green.
Green, a Mark Zuckerberg college pal who now heads the Facebook CEO’s advocacy group FWD.us, has been a flashpoint for criticism as he’s pushed Silicon Valley to get involved in Beltway politics in ways that have rubbed many the wrong way. He’s apologized over language in a leaked business plan, faced a liberal backlash over ads that supported conservatives on oil drilling and endured some high-profile defections.
Now, as immigration reform talk shifts from the Senate to the House and tech groups gear up for a summer campaign, FWD.us is seeking more stable footing — with Green keeping a lower profile. The group has managed to avoid controversy with its most recent ads, brought in some new members and hired a veteran Democratic operative as its executive director as it tries to move beyond a rocky launch.
“The biggest personal challenge has been building an organization to bring together people that do not often work together,” Green told POLITICO. “Whether that’s Silicon Valley and D.C. or Republicans and Democrats.”
FWD’s approach, he said, “has been and will continue to be to work with those across the political spectrum who share our commitment to much-needed reform.”
But Green’s strategy in Washington has struck some in the tech industry as clumsy and misguided.
“The way Joe talked about D.C. didn’t reflect a real sophistication of how the whole game works,” said one tech lobbyist. Of FWD.us, the lobbyist added, “You are going to see more cooks in the kitchen.”
With his curly hair and regular attire of jeans and untucked shirts, Green, 30, wouldn’t look out of place among the startup crowd in the coffeehouses of Silicon Valley, though he’s been spotted on Capitol Hill in a suit and tie. He visited Congress last month — tweeting a photo of a statue of Sam Rayburn — as the Senate hammered out amendments to the Gang of Eight immigration bill.
“He thinks like a Silicon Valley person, has a background in political organizing and knows how to push the envelope to elicit a reaction in people,” Sean Parker, the former president of Facebook and a member of FWD.us, told POLITICO. “He’s a passionate reformer.”
A key part of Green’s résumé: his Zuckerberg connection.
The two went to Harvard together, where Green’s dorm room connected to Zuckerberg’s through a fire door, according to “The Facebook Effect,” a history of the company. They were threatened with expulsion by Harvard over the initial social network they created, called Facemash. When Zuckerberg famously dropped out of school to create Facebook, Green declined to join him after his father, a math professor, told him he shouldn’t do any more Zuckerberg projects.
Known as a progressive who worked on John Kerry’s presidential campaign and started a group providing online tools to social causes, Green sparked a firestorm over FWD’s first TV ads, which sought to boost lawmakers backing immigration reform. The ads touted the conservative credentials of senators like Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was shown criticizing President Barack Obama on the Keystone XL pipeline and health care. In the furor that ensued, two FWD.us members dropped out, including Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, who called the group’s tactics “a little too Kissinger-esque, Realpolitik.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/eye-of-the-mark-zuckerberg-dc-storm-joe-green-93760.html#ixzz2YH0fbtaX
SAN FRANCISCO — The tech industry is united in its push for immigration reform and increased visas for high-skilled workers.
It’s just not as sure about Joe Green.
Green, a Mark Zuckerberg college pal who now heads the Facebook CEO’s advocacy group FWD.us, has been a flashpoint for criticism as he’s pushed Silicon Valley to get involved in Beltway politics in ways that have rubbed many the wrong way. He’s apologized over language in a leaked business plan, faced a liberal backlash over ads that supported conservatives on oil drilling and endured some high-profile defections.
Now, as immigration reform talk shifts from the Senate to the House and tech groups gear up for a summer campaign, FWD.us is seeking more stable footing — with Green keeping a lower profile. The group has managed to avoid controversy with its most recent ads, brought in some new members and hired a veteran Democratic operative as its executive director as it tries to move beyond a rocky launch.
“The biggest personal challenge has been building an organization to bring together people that do not often work together,” Green told POLITICO. “Whether that’s Silicon Valley and D.C. or Republicans and Democrats.”
FWD’s approach, he said, “has been and will continue to be to work with those across the political spectrum who share our commitment to much-needed reform.”
But Green’s strategy in Washington has struck some in the tech industry as clumsy and misguided.
“The way Joe talked about D.C. didn’t reflect a real sophistication of how the whole game works,” said one tech lobbyist. Of FWD.us, the lobbyist added, “You are going to see more cooks in the kitchen.”
With his curly hair and regular attire of jeans and untucked shirts, Green, 30, wouldn’t look out of place among the startup crowd in the coffeehouses of Silicon Valley, though he’s been spotted on Capitol Hill in a suit and tie. He visited Congress last month — tweeting a photo of a statue of Sam Rayburn — as the Senate hammered out amendments to the Gang of Eight immigration bill.
“He thinks like a Silicon Valley person, has a background in political organizing and knows how to push the envelope to elicit a reaction in people,” Sean Parker, the former president of Facebook and a member of FWD.us, told POLITICO. “He’s a passionate reformer.”
A key part of Green’s résumé: his Zuckerberg connection.
The two went to Harvard together, where Green’s dorm room connected to Zuckerberg’s through a fire door, according to “The Facebook Effect,” a history of the company. They were threatened with expulsion by Harvard over the initial social network they created, called Facemash. When Zuckerberg famously dropped out of school to create Facebook, Green declined to join him after his father, a math professor, told him he shouldn’t do any more Zuckerberg projects.
Known as a progressive who worked on John Kerry’s presidential campaign and started a group providing online tools to social causes, Green sparked a firestorm over FWD’s first TV ads, which sought to boost lawmakers backing immigration reform. The ads touted the conservative credentials of senators like Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was shown criticizing President Barack Obama on the Keystone XL pipeline and health care. In the furor that ensued, two FWD.us members dropped out, including Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, who called the group’s tactics “a little too Kissinger-esque, Realpolitik.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/eye-of-the-mark-zuckerberg-dc-storm-joe-green-93760.html#ixzz2YH0fbtaX