AP: Texas

08/07/2005

Associated Press

Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire Mark Cuban isn't rooting for the re-election of U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch next year.

During a radio broadcast Friday in Salt Lake City, Cuban said he thinks Hatch is "the digital Joe McCarthy" and he'll work to get the five-term Republican senator from Utah replaced in 2006.

A self-described "technology geek" and co-founder of Broadcast.com, Cuban believes Hatch's positions on technology keep the United States from being competitive. He points to Hatch's remarks that computers storing illegally downloaded music should be destroyed.

"The policies and actions of Sen. Hatch are very concerning to me from what I read and from my personal interactions with him," Cuban said, comparing Hatch to Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy who during the 1950s tried to hunt down Communist sympathizers living in the U.S.

Hatch was one the sponsors of the Induce Act, a bill that would allow a company to be sued if it was found to have induced individuals to download Internet music despite copyright protections. The measure is on hold following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that essentially supported Hatch's position.

Cuban has said he will make campaign contributions to Hatch's two challengers, Republican state Rep. Steve Urquhart of St. George and Salt Lake Internet service provider Pete Ashdown, a Democrat. Federal law allows Cuban to donate up to $4,200 to each candidate in the race.

Urquhart and Ashdown said they welcome Cuban's support.

Hatch campaign manager Dave Hansen thinks voters will reject Cuban's comments as "inappropriate" and "atrocious."

"Obviously, Mark Cuban believes in the politics of personal destruction," Hansen said, adding that Hatch "has a very good record in the high-tech industry."