Before his latest venture, which integrates Internet and long-distance phone services, Sobel founded a company that designed and sold retail display racks. Sobel has been a leading fundraiser for New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and former U.S. Rep. Jim Courter, who is president of IDT. Sobel also chairs the board of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, a think tank that promotes laissez-faire policies. In ’90, Sobel headed the national fundraising efforts of Republicans for [reproductive] Choice.