Schumer Chief Will Lobby For Silicon Alley

Wahington's hottest young politico stunned the Beltway yesterday by rejecting Al Gore's plea to become his top spin doctor -- in favor of a job as Silicon Alley's first lobbyist.

Josh Isay, 29, who engineered Sen. Charles Schumer's upset win over Al D'Amato and was Schumer's chief of staff, also turned down a top post in Hillary Clinton's Senate bid. Isay passed up a third job offer to run the influential money chest for electing Democrats to the U.S. Senate, the Democratic Senators Campaign Committee.

Isay earned about $120,000 a year as a Washington kingmaker but is entering a world where billions can be made overnight. The native Manhattanite will reap his own instant millions with high-flying Internet stock options as a sign-on bonus for the new online post.

Isay will head policy and goverment affairs for DoubleClick. Inc., the richest online ad firm in Silicon Alley, worth more than $10.8 billion. DoubleClick is the largest Silicaon Alley distributor of advertising over the Internet and creates campaigns for selling almost anything over the web.

Isay will also spearhead all of Silicon Alley's lobbying efforts and help open two-way doors for the more than 3,000 high-tech clients of DoubleClick. Isay will also keep a Washington office. Political observers said Isay was a real catch for Silicon Alley and DoubleClick, whose stock peaked at a record high of $209.37 as news spread of his switch. Its stock was just $17 last year.

DoubleClick Chairman Kevin O'Connor told The Post that Isay will essentially be teaching "Politics 101" to the novice billionaires running the online economy.

"We don't want to make the same mistakes anymore that Bill Gates made," O'Connor said.

Gates, a target of trustbusters, insulted official Washington by failing to spend any funds lobbying politidcians, virtually keeping them in the dark about the vast opportunities and riches in the high-tech world.

Isay intends to guide the neophyte web captains through the complexities of how to make effective political contributions O'Connor said. .....