Zuckerberg And 30 Tech All-Stars Launch Political Advocacy Group FWD.us. Leaders from Facebook, Google, and other tech giants today announced they’re banding together to form a political advocacy group called FWD.us, designed to promote policies that will keep the American workforce competitive. The bipartisan group’s first priority is pushing for comprehensive immigration reform, but it will also support education reform and scientific research. Leaked information about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s involvement in the formation of the group, pronounced “Forward U.S.”, was first published two weeks ago by the San Francisco Chronicle. But now FWD.us campaign manager Rob Jesmer tells TechCrunch it’s formally launching. It’s activities will include engaging the tech community in online advocacy, policy and fundraising. Zuckerberg published an op-ed in the Washington Post this morning describing the group’s mission “to build the knowledge economy the US needs to ensure more jobs, innovation and investment.”
Tech’s Most Influential Unite For Change. Immigrants are the key to a knowledge economy. These students are smart and hardworking, and they should be part of our future. This is, after all, the American story. My great-grandparents came through Ellis Island. My grandfathers were a mailman and a police officer. My parents are doctors. I started a company.
None of this could have happened without a welcoming immigration policy, a great education system and the world’s leading scientific community that created the Internet. Today’s students should have the same opportunities — but our current system blocks them. We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants. The economy of the last century was primarily based on natural resources, industrial machines and manual labor. Today’s economy is very different. This can change everything. To lead the world in this new economy, we need the most talented and hardest-working people. We need a new approach, including: Changes like these won’t happen on their own. Zuckerberg Launches A Tech Lobby, But What Will It Do Differently? Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made headlines today on the announcement of his new technology lobby, FWD.us, that he formed with his powerful Silicon Valley friends.
But, behind the starstruck stories of DC’s new power players, it should be noted that the technology industry already has a litany of lobbies, comprised of the same board members as FWD.us, who have been active in politics for years. Before everyone gets carried away, it’s worth understanding what tech money has gotten Silicon Valley already and what FWD.us will need to do to distinguish itself. What Already Exists The technology industry is handsomely represented in the halls of Congress. According to OpenSecrets, the industry’s lobbying coffers shoveled out $202 million in 2012, almost twice as much as in 2004 ($105M). Facebook even has its own Political Action Committee to fund specific candidates. Immigration Reform Has Advocates Far More Powerful Than The Tech Titans FWD.us Could Be Different. Welcome Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Sean Parker to the ZuckerPAC - Mike Isaac - Social. Mr. Zuckerberg isn’t the only tech titan scaling Capitol Hill this year — he brought friends.
The Facebook CEO adds a few more impressive names to the roster of his D.C. political advocacy group on Friday; Microsoft founder Bill Gates, current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Intuit CEO Microsoft General Counsel and EVP Brad Smith and Sean Parker of Facebook and Napster fame have all joined FWD.us, Mark Zuckerberg’s pet D.C. project aimed at changing the way Washington handles issues around immigration, education and employment issues. “We’re thrilled that Bill Gates, Brad Smith, Steve Ballmer, and Sean Parker — longtime advocates for vital policies like comprehensive immigration reform that will grow our economy — are joining FWD.us’ efforts to organize and engage the tech community,” Joe Green, president of FWD.us, said in a statement. Gates and company aren’t the only powerful friends Zuckerberg has asked to come along for the ride. Welcome to the Hill, techies. Silicon Valley learning D.C. art of secret money - Tony Romm. Google, Microsoft, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and other digital heavyweights increasingly are borrowing a favorite technique from the world of politics: secret money.
These top tech executives and their companies are embracing stealth, not-for-profit campaigns that can advertise and advance their pet causes — from tax and immigration reform to new online privacy laws — without ever disclosing a single donation. Continue Reading The groups are known by their tax designation, 501(c)(4), and until recently, they've been the domain of entrenched players such as Karl Rove and the Koch brothers. But interest on Capitol Hill in regulating the burgeoning tech sector has convinced Silicon Valley's power brokers they too must adopt a form of political advocacy that once would have been anathema to the Washington-wary industry.
(PHOTOS: Mark Zuckerberg with pols) (PHOTOS: 20 quotes on immigration reform) (PHOTOS: Republican money men) Mark Zuckerberg group launches TV blitz - Alexander Burns. The Mark Zuckerberg-backed organization pressing for immigration reform will launch its first wave of television ads Tuesday, in a move aimed at shoring up support for a large-scale immigration deal on the right, strategists for the group told POLITICO. FWD.us, the organization formed to push Silicon Valley’s priorities in Washington, will advocate for a new immigration law through a subsidiary group created specifically to court conservatives. Americans for a Conservative Direction will spend seven figures to run ads in more than half a dozen states, according to strategists who sketched out the organization’s plans. Continue Reading Ad defends Lindsey Graham The sales pitch leans heavily on clips of Florida Sen. (PHOTOS: 20 quotes on immigration reform) The conservative-oriented FWD.us affiliate running the ads has assembled its own blue-chip board of advisers, including former Mississippi Gov.
Mark Zuckerberg's New Political Group Spending Big On Ads Supporting Keystone XL And Oil Drilling. By Josh Israel and Judd Legum "Mark Zuckerberg’s New Political Group Spending Big On Ads Supporting Keystone XL And Oil Drilling" Credit: Guillaume Paumier Mark Zuckerberg’s new political group, which bills itself as a bipartisan entity dedicated to passing immigration reform, has spent considerable resources on ads advocating a host of anti-environmental causes — including driling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and constructing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The umbrella group, co-founded by Facebook’s Zuckerberg, NationBuilder’s co-founder Joe Green, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, Dropbox’s Drew Houston, and others in the tech industry, is called FWD.US. FWD.US is bankrolling two subsidiary organizations to purchase TV ads to advance the overarching agenda — one run by veteran Republican political operatives and one led by Democratic strategists.
Watch the ad: The other group, called Council for American Job Growth and purportedly intended to appeal to liberals, lauds Sen. Zuckerberg group launches new push for immigration reform. Technology advocacy groups are launching a new ad campaign to push House Republicans to take up immigration reform this year. The two ads from FWD.us, which was founded by Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, and an affiliate aimed at conservatives, called Americans for a Conservative Direction, will run on national cable television starting on Tuesday. They are being backed by a $250,000 buy and call on the public to prod lawmakers to move on the issue before it is too late. In one, from the conservative group, a narrator proposes that the country “do what many conservatives in Congress have suggested: finally secure our borders so this never happens again and create a system for those 11 million people here illegally to get right with the law.”
“No amnesty, but commonsense reforms that respect the rule of law,” the male voice adds, over infographics about immigration in the U.S. “Tell Congress it's time to fix our broken immigration system once and for all.”