Previous posts have explained that Silicon Valley has deep stakes in federal policy -- even though Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has a spotty voting record. Carla Marinucci writes at the San Francisco Chronicle:
The newest start-up to watch in Silicon Valley involves a crowd of top tech stars –led by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg — who are seriously exploring the formation of a new independent expenditure group focused on a range of issues, including education and immigration reform, sources tell the Chronicle.
Word is the IE move was organized by Joe Green, Zuckerberg’s old Harvard roommate. And we’ve heard the Facebook CEO has pledged millions to the cause — one source says as much as $20 million — and has gotten others to pledge as much as $2 million to $5 million each.
Some people are raising their eyebrows over the choice of a hard-right Republican consultant — one who produced a famed spot deriding liberals as a “latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading” freak show — to handle the Silicon Valley SuperPAC’s work.
Sources say the group is bringing on Jon Lerner, the Republican strategist who founded Maryland-based Red Sea LLC and who is behind Grover Norquist and his Club for Growth. Joining him will be ultra-conservative GOP consultant Rob Jesmer, a former strategist with Texas Sen. John Cornyn and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.