In 2006, with no prior political experience, Pete Ashdown filed as the only democrat to run against Senator Orrin Hatch in the Utah Senate Election. He lost, but took an astonishing 31% of the vote, having only spent around $250,000.

Now he’s busy upgrading XMission, the internet service provider he started in 1993, to use 100% renewable energy.

Pete makes me proud to be a Utahn and a Ute. I talked to Pete on the phone last week about how he keeps Utah’s first independent ISP going, why the University of Utah is so awesome, and why he wishes Obama (and everyone else in Washington) would embrace wikis.

Envisioning an Internet with Dozens of Users #

How long had you been considering being an entrepreneur? #

I’d thought about it forever, like little business ideas here and there, but eventually I thought wanted to work for a software company, just writing software. I got a job at Evans and Sutherland (one of the big computer graphics companies at the time). They had a real time connection to the internet, as did the University of Utah.

My experiences with the internet at Evans and Sutherland opened my eyes to the possibilities of what the real internet offered—file transfers, group discussions, chatting. This is still before the WWW. I really enjoyed it and was surprised how it allowed me to communicate with friends and delve into my hobbies.

The only disappointing thing was that I couldn’t do it from home. I started XMission thinking there must be dozens of people like me who wanted internet access from home. I thought I could run it out of a closet for a few geeks and collect a check every month.

So was that your first marketing campaign? Getting your friends from the bulletin board systems to sign up? #

Absolutely. I posted on all the boards asking them to look at XMission.

Thinking Long Term, Evolving #

How does XMission operate among the big telcos? #

I say it’s like McDonald’s versus local food. XMission isn’t the least expensive, but it’s a higher value in terms of better service (tech support) and stronger technical aspects. Our core motto is “is this a service that I would want to use?” It’s been a guiding philosophy, and has steered me away from opportunities that would have benefited me greatly yet may have hurt the company.

I could have sold out during the tech bubble in the late 90s. I had some opportunities that would have been great for me in the short term, but would have been lousy for my customers and employees.

How have you been forced to evolve? #

Our dial-up service is rapidly disappearing when it used to be a mainstay.

One thing that surprised me was the idea of colocation. In about 1995, a customer asked me if he could run his own computer in my server center. I thought, “I’ve got a card table you can use and I’ll charge $500 a month.” By 2000 we’d built a new building which is now full of other people’s servers.

Domain names are a good example of a business that I could have gotten into but missed out on. Back in 1993 I would have been able to get tons of available domain names for free.

Other opportunities have popped up. For instance, we tried web design, but we found we’re better partnering with designers rather than doing it ourselves. We need to focus on the plumbing.

Seeking Tech Leadership for Utah and the US #

Had you held office before running for Senate? #

I’d been appointed to sit on the Salt Lake Historic Landmark Commission, but I don’t count that for much.

My interest in running for senate started at a committee meeting arranged by Senator Hatch in 2003 in which Hatch asked if it was possible to make a computer self-destruct if it downloaded illegal content. As a business owner who depends on computers, something like his proposal would absolutely threaten my livelihood and that of my customers and employees.

There’s no way I can monitor all of my employees’ activity on the internet. A university couldn’t either. I’ve always thought we lived in a society in which we were innocent until proven guilty, and Hatch’s comments displayed an ignorance of the law, tipping the scales of justice in one direction.

In addition, his comments reflected poorly on Utah. The University of Utah was one of the 1st 4 nodes of the internet, and has produced Jim Clark, Nolan Bushnell (ed. note: My mom went on a few dates with Nolan Bushnell.), among other great computer pioneers. Utah deserves better than to have Hatch misrepresent the technology community here.

What’s more, I can’t point to a single person in Congress, in the House or Senate, who I respect when it comes to technology. Gore was probably the last lawmaker who knew what he was talking about regarding technology. Information technology is so important to our economy that we need at least one person in Washington who knows what they’re talking about.

So, Hatch’s comments and their significance was a real motivation for me to get involved.

Wanting a Society Focused on its People #

Then, around 2004, I took a trip to Japan with my family. Real eye opener. I saw a society so focused on its people, with a great education system, a great transportation system. I wanted those things for my children here.

Went to Hiroshima and went to the atomic bomb memorial. I was surprised that the memorial didn’t point the finger at the US, but recognized instead that the Japanese had over militarized themselves and paid the price for it. Japan had enlisted children to build bomb shells and essentially focused the entire country’s energy on war. They got bombed as a result. It made me wonder about where my country’s obsession with war was taking us.

I went home deciding to help anyone who was willing to run against Hatch. It turns out that Hatch is the 800 lb gorilla, and no one would bother to run against him. To me, this was…unsatisfactory. So I decided to do it. I was afraid. I didn’t want to expose my family to the grind of politics. I’m an introvert. I’ve spent most of my life behind a computer screen, but I went for it anyway.

I was surprised by how responsive people were as I asked for help. They were excited about something new. My life loves how it turned me into an extrovert. It was sublime on so many levels. It was so profound and I can’t wait to do it again.

People thank me for running, and I tell them “You should run—we all should run!” I wasn’t in any special position to do this. I mean, I was able to take the time off work to run a campaign this scale, but there are tons of opportunities for people to hold office on other levels.

So when are you going to run again? #

A lot of people pushed me to run for mayor, but I don’t think I’m cut out for mayor. I’m more focused on broad brush federal level issues: education, infrastructure, healthcare. I don’t want to seek an office, but I think the office should find me.

People wanted me to run for Congress this year, but I feel like it’s not the right time. For one thing, XMission suffered while I was gone, so I’ve got to get that back on track.

Bob Bennett (Utah’s other republican senator) is up for reelection in 2010. If he doesn’t run again, there will be a lot of people ready to take his spot and I’d consider that. I’d love to run against Hatch again in 2012, so if he’s running again, and I’m available, you can bet on it!

Becoming Political / Leveraging Technology #

Were you a follower of politics before? #

I’d followed presidential level stuff before, and complained about things like everyone else. Running for office helped me define what I really stand for. My wife held a delegate meeting for the Democratic Party when we first moved into our house. I told two of the democrats at the meeting that I was an independent because I was so disgusted with the parties at the time. Eventually, I realized that I had to compromise and work within the system and help the party that I believe has the best chance to make things right.

I can talk about technology all day, but I don’t know enough about health care and education. The race let me work with people who know about those things. The real revelation from the race is that you can use technology to solicit information from people, and they’ll give it to you! I felt privileged to be at the center of a vast conversation.

A lot of people offered a great deal of good information through my website throughout the race, and people are still referring to the site and adding to it today.

What was the most useful Internet tool for your campaign? #

The wiki helped more than anything else. It’s been disappointing to me to see that other campaigns haven’t embraced the wiki—no presidential candidates or congressional candidates. It’s an all inclusive and transparent technology, it allows people to reach across party lines. A large problem in Utah is that the republicans don’t listen to everyone—opposing voices are ignored. Well, we wanted to listen to them, and the wiki was a great tool to get them on board.

Basically, I took other people’s ideas and applied them towards politics.

Another thing I did was publish my calendar. I made a point of stating that if our elected officials are our employees, we should have accounting for their time. I was one of the first to sign on with the Sunlight Foundation, and have pledged to publicize my schedule when elected, much like Jon Tester (D-MT) publishes his schedule on his website. (More info at the Sunlight Foundation’s Punch Clock Campaign) It’s absurd that only 8 out of our 535 elected representatives in Washington let us know how they spend their time.

I’m also supportive of Lawrence Lessig’s Change Congress. This kind of transparency and accountability is demanded, and elected officials have a hard time arguing against it. I just wish that Obama (who I endorse) would adopt some more of the Sunlight Foundation’s ideas as well.

Tell me more about what you did with the wiki. #

It started quite innocently. I had a laundry list of features available to me, and I wanted them on my campaign site—chat rooms, photos, etc. I use the wiki at XMission for employee manuals and documentation, so I thought I’d use it on the campaign site too.

I put my policies on there and let people fill in the blanks. It blew people’s minds that a candidate was willing to open up their policy discussion. It ran wide open, anonymously, for about 6 months. But after about 6 months, the vandals came in and relentlessly attacked the wiki.

At about 2am one night, I finally had to require registration, and that killed it. I’d had about 100 people actively participating before, but requiring registration reduced it to about a dozen people.

I’d love to see THOMAS (THOMAS is the database of United States Congress legislative information) evolve into something resembling a wiki that allows people to register and leave comments on bills before Congress. I know that terrifies lawmakers. If there were an effort within Congress to open up this dialogue, it’d be wildly popular and extremely effective.

Won’t this bring too many cooks into the kitchen and slow things down? #

Well, the wiki is unique because the more voices participate makes it easier to manage. A dozen people couldn’t write wikipedia, and they couldn’t police it either.

I found early on that detractors would get on and say “I don’t like this,” but when pressed for a rational explanation of why they didn’t like it, they wouldn’t respond. Facts and real evidence rise to the top and preserve themselves.

Thanks to Pete for his time. Thanks also to my Mom for running for Utah’s 1st district in 2002 (she didn’t make it onto the ballot, but she did get on the Daily Show).