| Politics in a bottle? Almost | |
|
March 1993. What H. Ross Perot did for democracy with his money, Agust G. Gudmundsson is hoping to do with his technology. Mr. Gudmundsson, a political junkie turned computer software developer, offers even the most independent politicians something only the big parties could provide in the past: computerized voter lists. Using seven powerful personal computers in his Bartlett home, Mr. Gudmundsson, 39, has compressed statewide voter information into easy-to- manage disks that any pinky-ringed politico could handle. The cost to get around the party's control: as little as $650. 'This is sort of bringing democracy to politics,' says Mr. Gudmundsson, a native of Iceland who was raised in Virginia and educated in the Republican politics of the 1970s and '80s. The user-friendliness of Mr. Gudmundsson's system centers around its simple presentation of correct addresses(which Mr. Gudmundsson double-checks), nine-digit ZIP codes (which can trim a campaign's postage costs) and technical assistance that Mr. Gudmundsson farms out to Pascal Systems, a Chicago computer consultancy. |
'It's an election-winner,'
says Brent C. Bluthardt, who is managing the Schiller Park mayoral campaign
of his mother, Diane Latoria Bluthardt. Mr. Bluthardt notes that the software's
ability to hone campaign lists to targeted voters - female senior citizens,
for example - makes it particularly valuable.
With more independent - or at least, out of the mainstream - politicians testing the waters in politics, Mr. Gudmundsson estimates that his company, Austin Professional Systems Inc., can grow from its 1992 revenues of $180,000 to $500,000 in 1994, a congressional election year. Mr. Gudmundsson moved to Illinois in 1986 to work on Republican executive Donald Rumsfeld's presidential campaign that never materialized. But he also can work with the other party: His partner in Austin Professional Systems is prominent Democrat Michael E. Lavelle, former chairman of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners and now of the Oak Park law firm Lavelle Holden & Juneau Ltd. Adam Lashinsky
|
