Thursday, July 26, 2001
Page 5
Dean of USC Communication School Appointed to Commission on Internet Politics
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Local lawyer and USC Annenberg School for Communication Dean L. Geoffrey Cowan was appointed Tuesday by Gov. Gray Davis to study Internet political practices.
Cowan was among the three appointees Davis made to the Bipartisan Commission on Internet Political Practices, a 13-member panel designed to examine the various issues, including disclosure, posed by campaign activity on the Internet related to the goals and purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974.
The commission is responsible for making recommendations based on their findings for appropriate legislative action.
A jack-of-all-trades, Cowan has been a public interest lawyer, professor, best-selling author, Emmy Award-winning television producer, and public official.
Cowan, 59, has served as the Annenberg School for Communication dean since 1996.
He is the co-founder of the Center for Law & Social Policy, the nation’s first officially recognized public interest law firm, and served as chairman of the Los Angeles commission that drafted the city’s ethics laws.
Cowan is a former member of the National Governing Board, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization which promotes open, honest, and accountable government, and the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Cowan was also appointed director of Voice of America, the international broadcasting service of the U.S. Information Agency by President Clinton.
Cowan received his law degree from Yale Law School
Also appointed to the commission was Internet executive and international corporate transactions attorney Edward Hearst.
Hearst, 40, of Dublin, is a vice president of Global Trading Web, at Commerce One, a company which provides an e-marketplace that allows businesses to conduct business over the internet.
Before joining Commerce One, Hearst served as senior counsel on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Commerce, helping to draft the e-Sign digital signatures law.
Hearst has also served as senior attorney at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and as senior policy advisor to the U.S. Department of State.
He is a former attorney with Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue where he specialized in international corporate transactions and regulatory matters.
He received his law degree from University of California, Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law.
Commission members do not receive a salary and appointments do not require Senate confirmation.
Copyright 2001, Metropolitan News Company