Alex Alben

Alex Alben, American politician, was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives. He ran as a Democrat in the Eighth Congressional District of Washington. The seat was held by Republican Jennifer Dunn, who retired after Alben announced that he would run for the seat. It is now held by Republican Dave Reichert. Part of the Microsoft corporate campus is located within the district, which stretches from the affluent suburbs of Bellevue and Mercer Island to the rural areas of south King County and a swath of Pierce County. Since its creation, the seat has been held by Republican legislators.

Biographical Background

After graduating Stanford University in 1980, Alben began his career working for CBS News in New York as a research assistant to anchorman Walter Cronkite. In 1981, he worked on the controversial CBS Reports Documentary, "The Uncounted Enemy, A Vietnam Deception," which sparked a $100 Million libel suit between General William C. Westmoreland and CBS News. The suit settled in 1985, with no payment, but a statement from CBS that Westmoreland "had done his duty as he saw fit." By this time, Alben had left CBS for Stanford Law School, where he graduated in 1984.

Alben began work in 1985 as an entertainment lawyer for the Beverly Hills, CA, firm of Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman. He moved on to legal and business affairs for Orion Pictures and Warner Bros., before moving to the Seattle area in 1993.

Prior to running for Congress in 2004, Alben served as General Counsel and V.P. Business Affairs for Starwave Corporation and head of government affairs for RealNetworks. At Starwave, Alben worked on pioneering CD-ROM products and helped launch popular web sites such as ABCNews.com and ESPN.com. As a RealNetworks Vice President, Alben worked on the "RealJukebox" music management project, which contributed to the proliferation of MP3 music files, both legally and illegally disseminated across the Internet. On behalf of the technology industry, Alben testified before the U.S. Copyright Office and House Commerce Committee on the digital distribution of music and the importance of creating authorized channels for the distribution of Internet Radio and music downloads. Along with record label and high tech executives, he participated in the founding of the Secure Digital Music Initiative and the Digital Media Association.

Alben is the author of a comedy-spy novel, "Our Man In Mongoa," published by Charles Scribner's Sons. Regarding "Our Man In Mongoa", "Publishers Weekly" wrote: "Alben writes smoothly, with terrific pace and even better humor, which, deliciously deadpan, skewers even moving targets." Recently, he has written opinion pieces about politics and media for "The New York Times, Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer."

2004 Congressional Campaign

Alben ran a centrist campaign, emphasizing his experience in the high tech world and his active participation in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other issues affecting the software industry. Alben won the endorsement of the Seattle Times, the Seattle Post Intelligencer and the King County Journal.

During the course of the campaign, Alben publicly criticized radio talk show host Dave Ross, for remaining on his daily radio program, "The Dave Ross" show while actively fund-raising and campaigning as a candidate for federal office. Alben claimed that Ross's activity violated federal campaign finance law.

Alben was one of three Democrats vying for the party's nomination (the other two being interior designer Heidi Behrens-Benedict and radio personality Dave Ross). Alben was endorsed for Congress by The "Seattle Times, Seattle Post Intelligencer, King County Journal" and numerous local organizations. Ross won the primary election held 14 September 2004, but then lost to the Republican nominee in the general election on 2 November 2004.