RealNetworks caught in campaign controversy

SEATTLE (Reuters) -- Internet media software company RealNetworks Inc. found itself embroiled in a campaign controversy Tuesday after canceling a visit by Washington Sen. Slade Gorton, who is running against an executive of the company.

Gorton, a three-term Republican senator, had been scheduled to meet RealNetworks executives Monday evening after a debate with Democratic challenger Maria Cantwell, but the company scrapped the event at the last minute.

RealNetworks, which is the leading maker of software for receiving audio and video over the Internet, said it canceled the meeting after learning that Gorton planned to brief the media afterward.

"RealNetworks felt this would not have been appropriate for a routine government affairs briefing," company spokesman David Brotherton said, adding that the company frequently meets with government officials, although this would have been Gorton's first visit to RealNetworks' headquarters.

Gorton's campaign charged that Cantwell, who is on leave from an executive post at RealNetworks and is financing her bid largely with millions of dollars in stock options from the company, pressured the company to snub her opponent.

"The Gorton campaign can only assume that Maria Cantwell learned of the event yesterday at the debate, was uncomfortable with the idea of Slade Gorton going to RealNetworks and decided to pull the plug," Gorton spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said in an e-mail to reporters.

Asked to respond to the Gorton camp's charges, Cantwell spokesman Jed Lewison said, "They can assume whatever they want. This is between Gorton and RealNetworks. It has nothing to do with the campaign."

RealNetworks' Brotherton said the company does not endorse political candidates.

The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has reported that RealNetworks employees and executives have donated some $48,000 to Cantwell's campaign. She is expected to spend about $7 million, with the vast bulk of that coming out of her own pocket.

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