SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY : Mini-Revolt Against Bush Draws Some High-Tech Support

It seems that a mini-revolt against the Bush Administration by Orange County business leaders Roger W. Johnson and Kathryn G. Thompson has struck a chord among some local high-tech executives.

Ever since announcing two weeks ago that they would host a breakfast for Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Johnson, chairman of Western Digital Corp., says he has received hundreds of supportive phone calls from business leaders, including high-tech companies in Orange County.

While he is getting flak from staunch Republicans, Johnson said that moderates from both parties have expressed frustration with the Bush Administration’s economic policies. Johnson says he hasn’t decided whom to back in the November presidential election, and he believes that he could be coaxed back to the Bush camp.

“We were not planning a revolution in the party,” Johnson said. “But apparently a lot of people are concerned about the same thing.”

Donald R. Beall, chief executive of Rockwell International Corp., which is moving its headquarters from El Segundo to Seal Beach, did not specifically comment on Johnson’s remarks in a a recent interview. But he said the Administration needs to do something soon to cure the economy.

While saying he was very concerned about any government spending that would swell the federal deficit, Beall said the country “needs to do something (to) encourage more investment and work more on the infrastructure.”

B.J. Rone, chief financial officer of Archive Corp., a computer-storage products company in Costa Mesa, said Johnson was on target with his complaints.

Rone said President Bush’s reported plans to cut taxes will do little to cure the economy and suggests that the President propose an investment tax credit that would encourage new investment by businesses.

“The country has done almost nothing in the last three years for business,” Rone said. “There have been some fine achievements on the international side with the hostage releases and the Gulf War, but it’s too one-sided.”

“If I were President of the United States, I would be burning the midnight oil, constantly coming up with fixes to solve the problems. It seems very little time has been spent on economic issues.”