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The gay-marriage battle: Follow the money
Map: Tracking Proposition 8 contributions »

Name Total Amount City State Zip Employer Position
ANNE WICKERS $500 BLOOMINGTON IN 47401 Oppose
CLAUDETTE EINHORN $100 INDIANAPOLIS IN 46208 NONE Oppose
JASON S. MCLACHLAN $1,000 SOUTH BEND IN 46616 UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME Oppose
JOHN GARZELLONI $250 FORT WAYNE IN 46802 HONEYWELL Oppose
JOSEPH MARTIN $100 RICHMOND IN 47374 INDIANA UNIVERSITY EAST Oppose
KENNETH MCCAMISH $100 JEFFERSONVILLE IN 47130 PHARMERICA Oppose
PEGGY APPLE $100 INDIANAPOLIS IN 46202 IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE Oppose

Source: CA Sec. of State

Even if you don’t live in California, you too can vote NO on 8 with your pocketbook here:

• https://secure.ga4.org/01/equalityforall 
• http://www.votenoonproposition8.com/donate.html

The following is a  list of my neighbors who have given money to support Proposition 8 in California – which would eliminate the right of same-sex couples to wed in California. These people have moved beyond mere opinion and are actively giving money to an effort to tear California families apart.

SHAME on them!

[KEY: Name|Donation|City State ZIP| Employer]

• BETSY JOHNSON $5,000 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040
• CHRIS LEHNER $100 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040 TESLA MOTORS, INC.
• CHRISTY REED $1,000 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040
• DONALD BAHL $200 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040 BAHL HOMES
• KENNETH D. SMITH $1,000 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040 GREEN BUILDING ENT.
• PETER GIANNINI, C.P.A. $140 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040
• RICHARD C. BLAKE $1,000 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040 WSGR
• RICHARD CRIPPEN $150 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040
• STEVEN KELLER $1,500 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040 PALO ALTO DENTAL GROUP  
• JENNA ADAMS $100 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94041  
• JUDY KENNEDY $100 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94043 GENERAL DYNAMICS
• KATHY LASKO $1,000 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94043 SARATOGA USD
• NICHOLAS LAPORTA $100 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94043 NICK LAPORTA INSURANCE
• PAUL HEPWORTH $100 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94043 REALTRAVEL INC.
• DAVID LEE $5,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94085 NETAPP
• GREAT COMMISSION CENTER INTERN’L $200 SUNNYVALE CA 94085
• TRADITIONAL FAMILY COALITION $1,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94085
• JULIAN K. JOHNSON $1,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94086
• PHIL STEWART $1,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94086
• RYAN YAMAGATA $1,500 SUNNYVALE CA 94086 MEDIMMUNE
• CLAUDIA P. QUIST $45,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94087
• DOUGLAS B. QUIST $5,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94087
• ERIC H. ANDERSON $1,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94087 COOLEY GODWA
• GENE LAMOREAUX $8,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94087 KLA TENCOR
• LARRY DUNGAN $2,500 SUNNYVALE CA 94087 VOLT
• LLOYD DICKSON $5,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94087
• LOUISE A. KENNEY $1,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94087
• ROBERT KENNEY $5,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94087 GOLFLAND ENTERTAINMENT
• STEVE J. HURST $1,000 SUNNYVALE CA 94087 HURST & ASSOC.

Source: California Secretary of State

I got my $600 economic stimulus check in the mail yesterday. I’ve scanned it and included it for all the world to see. (with minor editing to protect my family’s privacy)

This is supposed to help the U.S. economic my stimulating a mini-buying spree nationwide. But many people I know will just use the money to help pay off maxed-out credit cards.

A also know people who are not getting checks because they were laid off from their jobs and didn’t make any money last year. No stimulus for them.

President Bush is lobbying the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which is scheduled for a vote Wednesday night. The U.S. Senate passed the treaty in June.

Similar to the existing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) among the U.S., Canada and Mexico, CAFTA would create a free trade zone putting an end to most trade barriers between the United States and six additional countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

The free trade agreement faces stiff opposition among Democrats. Many Republicans who represent agricultural Corn Belt or industrial Rust Belt and southern textile states in Congress also have stated opposition to the bill. But with a Republican majority in the House large enough to ensure passage of CAFTA, party leaders are trying to shore up enough votes to ensure CAFTA’s passage.

This has prompted last minute action by the President to lobby individual members of House, reminding members that Central American countries have committed troops and other resources to fight the U.S. War on Terror. Other Republican leaders have been using the party’s traditional pro-business message and linking it to homeland security issues.

“Trade creates jobs and lifts people out of poverty and there’s nothing like a stable society to fight terrorism and strengthen democracy, freedom and rule of law,” Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House, reportedly said at a news conference Tuesday.

But the opposition disagrees. CAFTA is “a bad deal for Central Americans and also for Latinos in this community… (with CAFTA) the exploitation of workers will continue in Central America,” Democrat Representative Hilda Solis of Los Angeles said. Her views are common among Democrats, who are overwhelmingly against the treaty.

According to opponents of CAFTA, the current trend of American jobs being sent to foreign countries, particularly in the information technology sector, would greatly expand under the treaty.

“This will be a vote in the middle of the night. They’ll keep the vote open for several hours, in violation of the rules. If it passes, it will be by fewer than five votes,” predicted Rep. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, according to a Washington Post report.

For: Wikinews

After the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) completes its acquisition of Chicago-based electronic trading company, Archipelago Holdings within the next 12 months, the impact will also be felt in San Francisco, California as the future of the 123-year-old Pacific Exchange (PCX) becomes murky.

This stems from a deal struck in January of this year, before the NYSE merger, when Archipelago struck a deal worth $83 million to take over operations of the San Francisco stock exchange and its 260 employees. All PCX operations are scheduled to be under Archipelago control by the end of September. Archipelago had planned to maintain the San Francisco operations.

As details were released Thursday of the April NYSE-Archipelago merger to the Securities and Exchange Commission, all Archipelago functions are to be folded into NYSE operations, including the PCX stock and options trading business. The report did not state whether or not the San Francisco employees would be kept after the merger is complete.

Started in 1882 at the San Francisco Stock Market, the Pacific Exchange, along with other regional stock exchanges, has suffered as customers shifted to electronic trading, which bypassed the need for stock exchange services in many instances.

For: Wikinews

Some international stock markets fell sharply Thursday upon news that London was hit by a series of coordinated explosions.

The FTSE 100 Share Index fell over 150 points, over 2.8%. Among the hardest hit stocks were airlines, hospitality and insurance companies, according to reports.

At 11:41UTC, the FTSE 100 [1], the yardstick used to measure the largest British companies on the stockmarket had fallen 3.85%, dropping by 201.2 points to 5028.40. British Airways and the Hilton group lead the losers with drops of over 7% each as investors speculated about a terrorist involvment in the attacks which could adversely affect tourism and travel. In Paris the Cac 40 Index [2] of France’s forty largest companies took an even worse beating, dropping almost 4% by 11:47UTC by 170.37 points to 4109.58. Among the top losers was Axa Insurance which dropped by 5.4%.

Across the border in Germany the Dax [3] had shed 3.15%, or 145.47 points, by 11:50UTC to 4470.02 points. Again among the top losers was a major insurer – Allianz which fell over 5%.

It seems that airlines and insurers have been hit the worst so far. Ryanair has dropped 7.73% or over €400m in value and easyjet has shed 7.28%.

Shortly after news of the explosions spread to trading floors, shares of British Airways fell more than 6 percent. Other stocks affected included Carnival Corporation, InterContinental Hotels Group, Hilton Group, and Prudential.

The FTSE has recovered some of it’s initial loss. Futures trading has seen highly increased volume.The FTSE had recovered 116 points at 13:43 after it’s initial fall of 206. Increased volume of FTSE futures on LIFFE has meant that many people have been able to profit from the fall.

The price of gold has jumped by 1% as investors seek a secure place for their money.

United States markets have fallen significantly as well, with the Dow having fallen by 65 points, the S&P 500 7.57, and the NASDAQ 7.51 as of 13:43UTC.

For: Wikinews

Owings Mills, Maryland – U.S. pubcaster, PBS said it was canceling its business magazine and interview program, Wall $treet Week. The last new episode is scheduled to air on June 24.

The program, based in Owings Mills, Maryland, has been on the air continuously for 35 years, becoming one of the longest-running programs in U.S. television history. It had been struggling to regain audience lost after the producers fired long-time host Louis Rukeyser in 2002 and signed a controversial deal with AOL Time Warner to …

For: Wikinews

New York – Barry Diller’s InterActiveCorp (IAC) is near a $2 billion deal to buy search engine Ask Jeeves, according to a report in Monday’s Wall Street Journal.

The corporate boards from both companies were in talks all weekend negotiating what appears to be an all-stock deal. If approved, the price tag would be a substantial premium over Ask Jeeves valuation of $1.4 billion as of Friday’s stock market close.

The acquisition of Oakland, California-based Ask Jeeves by IAC would mean they own a known brand name and get a foothold in revenues from search engine advertising. The company also would become a direct competitor with companies such as Google, Yaho and …

For: Wikinews

By David Speakman in Silicon Valley

Bill Miller is CEO of Valchemy, a San Mateo, California company founded in 2001 to provide application software to the M&A industry. Previously, he was an executive with Intel Capital, working with the company’s active equity investment and M&A programs.

05:00 Hit the alarm to turn it off, stumble downstairs to let dog out, then check email for 20 minutes. Send notes to members of the East Coast team after reviewing some of the proposals and presentations they plan on delivering on the today. Well over half of our customers and prospects are on the East Coast and we have a full team there.

05:30 Stretch and go out for short, dark, cool three-mile run. During the longer days of the year when there is more early light I sneak in a 15-20 mile bike ride in the mornings in the hills near where I live. It’s become an oft used cliché, but even a short run clears cobwebs and puts the right edge on the day for me. Additionally, one of the few contributions I make to the daily comings and goings of the busy Miller household is that I can take some of the energy out of our two year-old black lab early in the day.

06:00 Back home to check email, shower and change for work.

06:30 Wake up three children to get them started on their daily school routine.

06:45 Grab a bottle of water and head out to a breakfast meeting with a former Intel colleague who works as a venture capitalist.

07:00 The breakfast meeting starts. We reminisce about Intel and catch up on current business. I suggest some potential sales and marketing executive candidates for one of his recent investments, he agrees to introduce me to one of his portfolio companies which has an interesting technology that my technical guys want to learn about.

08:00 At the San Mateo offices I listen to a voicemail from the CFO who is working on a contract with a supplier. Since I’m on the phone, I call one of my board members to update him on a couple of executive candidates.

08:30 Finish checking messages and prioritize the day. This is what I call my personal ‘danger’ zone where if I am not disciplined about carving out at least 30 minutes in my morning to think about what is really important I end up not leading as effectively as I should. Leaders need to breathe deeply and make sure that they leave time to plan, think, and develop the perspective that they need to provide to their organization. If you make yourself an integral part of everything, you’ll never scale your organization and therefore never scale your business.

09:30 One-on-one meeting with the CFO to discuss our preliminary business plan for next year and plan out our executive offsite the following week where we will nail the key assumptions in the plan before we communicate the goals and commitments to the board at the end of the month. We identify the really key variables so we can focus my team time on those few key leverage points that will have the most impact on our growth next year.

11:00 Have hour-long telephone call with some executives from a potential services partner. This service provider may incorporate our products into their service offering.

12:30 Eat a quick lunch at my desk. Make a few more calls to some of those potential candidates to keep them ‘warm’ as we evaluate their fit and they meet with members of the team here.

13:00 Phone call with Sales VP, CFO, and attorney to go over the open items we still have on the contract we were negotiating last night.

14:00 Quick meeting with Marketing VP to review press releases on our two most recent customers.

14:30 I feel the need to get up and leave the office. I’ve spent too long inside, so I go for a quick walk outside to see the daylight and re-focus. I always joke that we are paying a lot for this Bay Area weather, so we ought to use it.

15:00 I get a call from our VP of Sales that the potential customer we’ve been in contract negotiations with wants to extend the technical evaluation for 4-6 weeks. This isn’t negotiable.

15:15 Get together with the VP of Sales and CTO to discuss what the prospect wants to spend additional time on, get myself comfortable that this is truly a technical, not a business, issue.

15:45 Quick exec team meeting to discuss the change in timing of this deal and make sure we have all the right people working on the extended evaluation, also talk through the impact to the business this and next quarter. The good news is that we were ahead of where we had planned to be for the quarter, so this push out of business into next quarter is not good, but manageable.

16:30 Since we are near the end of the quarter, I call primary investor and update him on the prospect’s change in timing. We discuss the impact of this on the numbers so that he is prepared to update his partners in his weekly partnership meeting. We also discuss the impact to the two firms currently looking to invest in Valchemy. Nobody likes to deliver less than great news, but my experience is that getting everything on the table in near real time increases the sense of shared ownership from all parties: my staff, employees, investors, even customers.

18:00 Just finished a near 90-minute telephone call with a new M&A deal guy at one of our existing customers. He doesn’t have a lot of deal experience and didn’t know how our application could help with his current deal with a lot of international subsidiaries and therefore complications. I spent a time hand-holding him, reassuring him of my personal experience at Intel working on international acquisitions. I also talked him through how the application could help him, specifically recommending a number of templates and best practices that he could follow to help him. It reminds me of how much I enjoyed the dynamics of doing deals, with every one a unique challenge. The challenge is striking that elusive balance, and then building a company that can do that again and again. That is the intellectual challenge that drives me.

For: eFinancialCareers

By David Speakman in Silicon Valley

Sharon Wienbar is a director at BA Venture Partners, the Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund for Bank of America.

06:15 Wake up, shower, coffee and breakfast. I’m a creature of morning habit and have my cereal, milk and newspaper almost every day, even with early meetings. My husband gets up earlier than me so he can swim before heading to the office.

07:00 I dial in to a conference call for an out-of-town board meeting. One of my partners is on the board at this company, but our fund usually assigns two partners to each deal. During this call I keep my phone on mute much of the time, as my children come down for breakfast and get ready for school. They’re usually pretty good at being quiet while Mommy’s on the phone, and I have mastered a silent smooch for a good morning greeting. They are off to school at 8am.

08:30 One of my portfolio companies has a board conference call later this morning to approve a new financing. That deal has some issues we need to resolve beforehand, so I first check in with my co-lead investor to make sure we’re thinking about those issues the same way. My next call is to the company counsel to check out how we would implement various different scenarios. Next call is to update the CEO on the investor status and next steps. She’s not happy about a potential delay, but understands and is glad for the head’s up. The company’s not on the ropes, so a few days isn’t a big deal. In the span of 30 minutes I have multiple phone calls with each angel separately and some all together to discuss how we’ll jointly fund our company.

09:30 Another conference call. The CEO gives a business update, which is encouraging. Our big new contract is producing revenue, and other contracts are moving through the pipeline. The board’s special finance committee has met and recommends the company accept the investor terms. The problem is that not all the investors have agreed to the term sheet, so the issue is moot for now. The call ends early, but we will have a follow-up call on Friday.

10:30 I have a couple of interesting calls in voicemail today. Another fund wants to syndicate (share investment in) a new deal they’ve been working on that’s in an area I’m particularly focused on, Internet advertising. Return that straight away, but get voicemail. Another call is from another different Internet advertising exec; he saw an article I wrote for CNET on adware and spyware (http://news.com.com/The spyware inferno/2010-1032_3-5307831.html), and wants to know if I’m interested to invest in his company. Hot dog! That marketing stuff really works when we get a deal in that we might not have otherwise seen. The third interesting call is from the company counsel for a deal I saw several months ago, a digital music device for consumers. She wants feedback on why we turned the deal down.

12:00 Off-cycle partner meeting (lunch is served): We normally have partner meetings on Mondays. This week our hardware team is racing to get a hot deal they’ve been working on for weeks. On Monday we thought the company expected term sheets from new investors in another week or so, but another VC pre-empted with an early term sheet Monday night. We now have to decide whether we want to approve an investment and submit our own term sheet in competition. The partner on point does a great job explaining to us how he wants to mitigate the risk—of course it won’t go away, that’s our job. But he has ideas for how to structure the financing to make it attractive to all parties: management, the inside investors, and us. Our partner has in mind what the company will eventually be worth, thus how much we can afford to pay to make a decent return. We all agree with his suggestions and vote to approve the deal. Now he has the hard job of negotiating with the insiders. My brain hurts from thinking in short intense bursts about a technology area far from my own expertise. But this is exactly what’s fun about venture capital: never a dull moment, always learning something new.

14:00 A partner at an out-of-town, early-stage fund has scheduled a call with me. He has a portfolio company with some interesting technology that hasn’t yet generated revenue. He wants to see if one of my portfolio companies, already well along in revenue, wants to buy his company to expand its scope. I listen to the other VC, but then tell him we’ve already considered the idea and want to pass.

14:30 More phone calls with the angel investors who have additional questions about future financing requirements, cash burn, and deal terms. I remind myself to never be an angel investor.

15:00 I take lots of meetings with folks looking for a job—these meetings can be either a real drag or fun and useful, and it’s hard to tell what you’ll get going in to a meeting. This afternoon’s meeting is with a fellow who’s been a serial interim CEO (turns around companies while the board is looking for a new full time CEO) who is looking for a ‘permanent’ CEO position. After the meeting I introduce him by email to a top recruiter who frequently works in our portfolio.

16:00 In between meetings I grab a quick call with company counsel for the deal doing the financing. The lawyer thinks we are fine with the terms I’ve outlined with the angels. He agrees to start drafting a new term sheet and company financing documents with these terms even though we don’t have official board approval yet. Next, I meet a real candidate for a real job, CFO in one of my portfolio companies. The company plans an IPO next year, so a rock solid CFO is a must. Luckily they already have a strong management team and are in a ‘hot’ space, so attracting talent with our best recruiter has been pretty easy. The fellow this afternoon has done it all: IPO’s, international M&A, spin-outs and spin-ins, built finance and infrastructure from the ground up. We spend most of our time discussing the company and his relevant expertise, but then segue to an open-ended discussion of the online music business—if they pay, do customers want to buy music or ‘stream’ it? Why does Apple keep gaining share? Will Yahoo! succeed with MusicMatch, their hot new acquisition?

17:00 I try again to return the call from the potential co-investor who wants to share his new deal opportunity in internet advertising, and this time I get him on the line. He describes the company and potential investment, and it sounds good. I agree to rearrange my schedule for the next day to make an hour’s drive out to the East Bay to visit this company. We want to move quickly.

17:30 I am usually home for dinner, but tonight I have a business engagement, so I call home to check on the kids, their day, their homework, etc. My husband will be home shortly, so I check in with our babysitter, then yack with each of my kids. They are waiting for their Halloween costumes, ordered off eBay, to arrive. ‘When will my Juliet costume come?’ takes up most of the conversation after we’ve reviewed the status of homework.

18:30 Working dinner with two CEO’s in my portfolio who should know each other but don’t. They’re each deeply experienced in their field (consumer marketing) and have even at times been CEO’s of nearly competitive companies, but they’ve never met. I offered to introduce them, so tonight I host a dinner for the three of us at Chez Spencer, an informal French restaurant in a ratty, but freeway-close part of San Francisco. The conversation ranges widely; these two brilliant, extroverted entrepreneurs deliver delicious dinner conversation, which I merely observe part of the evening. After sharing one hazelnut parfait amongst the three of us, we call it a night. One of the CEO’s leaves, and the other and I have a quick intense discussion on our top CFO candidate. Time to drive home to the ‘burbs.

21:30 First things first at home, I keep my regular promise to my girls to tuck each one in with a kiss. They sleep through the nuzzling, but I like it! My husband tells me about his day, and we chat about the rest of the week. After catching up, I do a quick pass at email. I reply to a few items and decide the rest can wait till tomorrow. To unwind for a bit before bed I read, first the newspaper, then a couple of magazine stories. My book club assignment will have to wait for the weekend.

For: eFinancial Careers