Reed drew criticism this spring for concealing his Microsoft ties while lobbying the Texas governor's presidential campaign. Craig Smith , a Democrat and former campaign manager for Gore. Smith is a board member of Americans for Technology Leadership, which Microsoft helped found. In that role, he wrote his former campaign colleagues, urging them against any breakup of the company. Microsoft and most of the organizations won't say how much money it gives them, and the company plays down its financial ties to these organizations.
Competitors say the total runs into millions of dollars a year.
Microsoft has set up lobbying operations in 20 states, with seven full-time staff members and an additional 50 registered lobbyists on retainer in those states. One goal is to pressure state attorneys general to back away from their participation in the federal government's antitrust action against the company. Trade groups representing Microsoft rivals say high-level Republicans have told them that Microsoft has privately pledged to pour millions of dollars into GOP Senate campaigns on the eve of this November's elections. The same groups say the company has promised additional large contributions to the Republican National Committee, which is working to elect Texas Gov. George W. Bush to the White House. The company has paid to fly at least 130 members of Congress or their aides to its headquarters campus in Redmond, Wash., over the past 16 months for tours, lobbying sessions and sometimes meetings with founder Bill Gates.