[Am-info] Reilly embarks on lonely quest

[John J. Urbaniak]

I thought I heard that West Virginia also joined with Mass. to pursue the Appeal.

John


Hans Reiser wrote:

> MS forces are beginning the process of portraying him as socially
> isolated. Let's give him our support, he is a fighter. It doesn't
> surprise me at all that he is the only one continuing, and Lockyer never
> seemed to really believe in the lawsuit, he was just joining the
> bandwagon. I wonder where I should send a check for Reilly....?
>
> Hans
>
> Erick Andrews wrote:
>
> >URL:
> >
> >http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/337/business/Reilly_embarks_on_lonely_quest+.shtml
> >
> >===================================================================
> >Few vocal, cheering allies surface as AG pursues Microsoft
> >
> >By Ross Kerber, Globe Staff, 12/3/2002
> >
> >The decision by Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly to continue a
> >lonely pursuit of an antitrust case against Microsoft Corp.  would
> >have generated cheers a few years ago from companies like IBM and
> >Sun Microsystems, whose complaints about the software giant
> >persuaded federal and state prosecutors to take on the company in
> >the first place.
> >
> >But those days are over, and the political payoff of Reilly's
> >decision to appeal the most recent court finding is no longer
> >obvious.  Both companies face other threats now, and other firms
> >are focused only on their very survival.  Yesterday, even some of
> >Reilly's business supporters said they regarded his actions as
> >something of a Quixotic quest after goals no longer at the center
> >of their interests.
> >
> >The appeal "is worth pursuing as a matter of principle, but I
> >don't know if it doesn't fall in the category of tilting at
> >windmills, and powerful windmills at that," said Shikhar Ghosh,
> >chief executive of Burlington software maker Verilytics
> >Technologies and former chairman of the Massachusetts Software &
> >Internet Council.
> >
> >On Friday, Reilly broke ranks with most of the other states who
> >called off their case against the Redmond, Wash., company and said
> >they would focus on enforcing an earlier court decree limiting
> >Microsoft's behavior.
> >
> >Instead, Reilly - joined yesterday by West Virginia Attorney
> >General Darrell V. McGraw Jr.  - said he would press forward with
> >an appeal of a federal judge's approval of a broad antitrust
> >settlement between the company and the US Justice Department,
> >struck last year.  The deal requires Microsoft to provide
> >outsiders access to various software code and other steps, but
> >Reilly said the settlement was filled with loopholes.  He
> >suggested further restrictions, such as prohibiting Microsoft from
> >"commingling" computer code between its Internet Explorer browser
> >and its Windows operating systems.
> >
> >Paul Egerman, chief executive of transcription systems provider
> >eScription Inc.  of Needham, said he found Reilly's actions
> >"neither good nor bad." Egerman, vice chairman of the influential
> >software council, added that "by coming down in the middle, I'm
> >showing the same ambivalence that the whole software industry in
> >the state feels about it." Indeed, the council's members are so
> >divided on the matter of Microsoft that the group doesn't even
> >take a formal position on the case, the most important federal
> >technology-policy issue of recent years.
> >
> >Among prosecutors, however, some said it makes sense that Reilly
> >would be among the last left standing.  For one thing, Reilly just
> >won an unopposed election, and hasn't been worn down by years of
> >bruising rhetorical combat with Microsoft.
> >
> >"He's fresher, and there may be some merit in the idea that it's
> >his turn to carry the ball," said Steve Houck, a former New York
> >antitrust official who remains in contact with Reilly and other
> >state officials on the case.
> >
> >In an interview yesterday Reilly said he's heard privately from
> >many supporters since announcing his decision.  The politics of
> >the situation, he said, didn't play a part in his thinking anyway.
> >"I have a core principle that I believe in, that there's no place
> >for politics when it comes to law enforcement," he said.
> >
> >But he also acknowledged Microsoft has outlasted many opponents,
> >and that he could face a trying crusade going forward.
> >
> >"Microsoft is powerful and has unlimited resources and from the
> >beginning has been able to wear down and crush anyone who gets in
> >their way," he said.  Once it reached a more amiable agreement
> >with the US Justice Department last year, Reilly said, Microsoft's
> >"goal was to split the states and wear them down one by one, and
> >they've accomplished that goal," he said.  "But it's important
> >that someone stays the course, and Massachusetts will, and bring
> >this to a conclusion."
> >
> >Reilly's predecessor, Scott Harshbarger, helped develop the
> >state's case against Microsoft, filed in 1998, but Reilly wasn't
> >always the company's most vocal critic and often let the attorneys
> >general of California, Connecticut, and Iowa take the lead in
> >hearings.
> >
> >All three were among those who agreed to settle the matter last
> >Friday, leaving some long-time activists surprised that Reilly
> >stayed with the cause.  "I can tell you Reilly wasn't first on my
> >list" of those expected to fight to the end, said Mark Cooper,
> >research director at the Consumer Federation of America, a harsh
> >critic of Microsoft.
> >
> >State records of contributions to Reilly's 2002 reelection
> >campaign show donations from people involved in a wide range of
> >banks and law firms, but relatively few who listed employment at
> >technology companies.
> >
> >Reilly said he decided to become more active a year ago, after the
> >Justice Department struck an agreement with Microsoft that lacked
> >the harshest remedies suggested by Clinton administration
> >officials such as breaking up the company, an idea a federal
> >appeals court rejected.
> >
> >Reilly said the state's legal costs since the case began total
> >about $1 million, mostly reflecting the time of staff attorneys
> >rather than cash expenses.  The state expects to recover those
> >costs from Microsoft eventually, he said, though by declining to
> >join the settling states, his office in effect has passed up the
> >chance to have its costs paid from a $25 million pool Microsoft
> >agreed to set up.
> >
> >A Microsoft spokesman said that Massachusetts and West Virginia
> >can only expect to recover their costs going forward "if they win
> >their appeal." Asked if the states would be repaid their costs to
> >date, he said, "that's still an open question."
> >
> >Among the state prosecutors, some of the largest expenses so far
> >have been paid by California to a Washington law firm, Williams &
> >Connolly.  The firm also handled Reilly's notice of appeal last
> >week, but Reilly said talks are still continuing over exactly what
> >role the firm will play going forward.
> >
> >Some policy groups, including Citizens Against Government Waste
> >and the National Taxpayers Union, have blasted Reilly's decision
> >as a waste of resources.  In Boston, Mike Widmer, president of the
> >Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said he wasn't as concerned at
> >the cost, which is already built into the budget of Reilly's
> >office.  "The issue of taxpayer dollars is a red herring," he
> >said.
> >===================================================================
> >
> >
> >
>
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