The Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council (ATIC) to webcast debates for candidates for the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) July 13 and October 7

ATIC, the Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council has been selected by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission to host, and webcast, the 2004 primary and general election debates for candidates for the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC). The debates will cover all services under the jurisdiction of the ACC. This includes utilities regulation (gas, water, electric and telecommunications), the incorporation of businesses and organizations, securities regulation and railroad/pipeline safety.

Mark Goldstein, ATIC Secretary said: "This is an important election for all of Arizona. There are only five commission seats and voters will be asked to fill four of them this year. That's unprecedented. This is a powerful body that impacts us all. The Commission will make decisions that affect the quality of service, rates we pay, and future investments to be made in, telephone, electric, gas and water utilities for years to come. Voters will choose the watchdogs that oversee our corporations and protect us from investment scams and fraud. Arizona voters need education and exposure to these candidates in order to make informed decisions. ATIC hopes that by making these debates available statewide, voters will get what they need."

The primary and general election debates will be presented in front of a live audience in the Auditorium at the University of Advancing Technology, 2625 West Baseline Road Tempe. With the assistance of AVNET and Kino Communications, the debates will be webcast over the Internet at the time of the debates, and later available for on-demand access from the ATIC Web Site following the debates. Goldstein said that "ATIC is interested in promoting innovation in telecommunications within Arizona. The debates will demonstrate the latest and greatest in video and audio streaming and on-demand web applications. Arizonans will have access to these debates wherever there is access to the web."

DEBATE INFORMATION AND WEBCAST ACCESS
See instructions and access to the webcasts. Access will be available in high bandwidth full video, and low bandwidth audio only versions.

SCHEDULE

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
http://www.arizonatele.com/atic/election/

BENEFITS
This project accomplishes several things. It gives Arizona the opportunity to educate a broader audience about the Corporation Commission, who they are, what they do and how they impact the state, particularly, economic development. We will be reaching out to educators statewide to encourage students to learn about the ACC and view live debates. It will give other interested parties throughout the state the opportunity to see the candidates debate the issues. It is also an opportunity for ATIC to demonstrate the use of these technologies for elections.

ARIZONA CORPORATION COMMISSION (ACC)
The Arizona Corporation Commission has jurisdiction over quality of service, utility finance and rates charged by public service utilities, including telecommunications, water, electric and gas. By state law, public service utilities are regulated monopolies. In most states, the Commission is known as the Public Service Commission or the Public Utility Commission. Our Commission, however, has responsibilities that go beyond traditional public utilities regulation. These additional roles include facilitating the incorporation of businesses and organizations, securities regulation and railroad/pipeline safety. By virtue of the Arizona Constitution, the Commissioners function in an Executive capacity, they adopt rules and regulations thereby functioning in a Legislative capacity, and they also act in a Judicial capacity sitting as a tribunal and making decisions in contested matters.

HISTORY AND 2002 DEBATES
This is not ATIC's first experience with debate sponsorship and webcasting. During the 2002 election cycle ATIC made history when it delivered the issues live to desktops throughout the state via a live webcast of the Gubernatorial and Corporation Commission debates. Oris Friesen, Chair of the ATIC Government Affairs Committee said: "Based upon our research we believe we were the first in the country to webcast a live statewide debate. It was certainly a first for Arizona. We want to top what we did in 2002 and the Commission debates seem like a natural fit for us. We're glad the CCEC agreed."

ARIZONA TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION COUNCIL
ATIC is a foundation of the Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development (GSPED) - ATIC is Arizona's recognized and authoritative organization guiding technology policy development, serving as a leading source of information and expertise on telecommunications and information technology matters. ATIC develops, promotes and supports initiatives and guides adoption of effective public policies that encourages wide-scale deployment and availability of telecommunications services and information technologies to insure economic prosperity for the Arizona community, expand the region's global competitive advantage, enable continued educational advancement and support an enhanced quality of life. More information on ATIC, its activities and events can be found on the web site at: http://www.arizonatele.com/atic/, or contact atic@researchedge.com or (602) 254-5887

CITIZENS CLEAN ELECTIONS COMMISSION (CCEC)
The Citizens Clean Elections Act is a campaign finance reform measure that was initiated by Arizona citizens and passed by voters in 1998. The Act created a new campaign financing system that provides full public funding to qualified candidates who agree to abide by Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) guidelines. Candidates for statewide offices (governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, corporation commissioner or mine inspector) and legislative offices (house of representatives and senate) are eligible to participate in the public funding program.

AVNET CORPORATE BROADCAST CENTER
The AVNET Corporate Broadcast Center (CBS) is Arizona's premier broadcast and video production facility. Conveniently located near Sky Harbor Airport at Phoenix at 2617 S. 46th Street, this 12,000 sq/ft facility is dedicated to the needs of corporate video producers. With a complement of services including video production, satellite broadcasting, web development/webcasting, post-production, video conferencing and news service links to all major network broadcast facilities, the Corporate Broadcast Center is a one-stop shop for full turnkey production support. Facility tours are available by request. More information can be found at http://www.Avnet.tv/.

KINO COMMUNICATIONS
Kino Communications is a leading software provider for enhanced communication, leveraging proprietary technology and unique competencies in the networked delivery of digital media. Our software solutions allow streaming audio and video transmission to keep pace with the demands of increasingly integrated and networked systems. Kino Communications' powerful software suite accelerates convergence. That's why our standards-based technologies are built on commercially-accepted architectures. In addition, Kino Communications offers a range of "second wave" managed solutions including planning, implementation, and maintenance services of dedicated wireless media transmission infrastructure. We also can employ state-of-the-art audio and video compression and encryption technologies on behalf of our customers.

UNIVERSITY OF ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY
"The University of Advancing Technology is an ACICS accredited private university located in Tempe, Arizona. Designed to bring faculty, students and industry leaders together in a unique environment, the University continues to serve as a leader in education and the latest technologies. The school offers Associate, Bachelor and Master degrees in Multimedia, Software Engineering and Technology Commerce, as well as professional development training."

Contact: Mark Goldstein, Secretary, Arizona Telecommunications & Information Council (ATIC), Voice & Fax: 602-470-0389, markg@researchedge.com