June 5th, 2009
PR firms battle over Google's inside track to White House
The Washington Post takes a look at Google’s complex relationship with Washington. For starters, CEO Eric Schmidt was closely tied to the Obama campaign, and is part of Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
But with three Google executives having left the company to work in the administration, including head lobbyist Andrew McLaughlin, consumer and privacy groups are deeply concerned the company has too much influence. The Center for Digital Democracy wrote to the White House protesting McLaughlin’s appointment.
“We believe no special-interest connected person should assume a position of vital importance to the country’s future,” they wrote.
when it comes to Google, the halls of Washington are ringing to the sound of press releases. from Microsoft funded PR firm law media: “We do not remember a time when one company had so many executives leave to serve a single administration.”
AT&T has hired telecom consultant Scott Cleland to bash Google’s push for net neutrality. And Microsoft also hires Benjamin Edelman as a consultant who criticized Google’s advertising business. Google’s making its defense in the public sphere, too.
“We went from being a start-up to being an institution very quickly. We have organizations that spend a lot of time complaining about us and criticizing us. That’s healthy,” Schmidt told reporters last month after he spoke at the University of Pennsylvania commencement.
For now it seems antitrust regulators are taking a long hard look at Google. But with so many former executives in the White House, competitors’ PR firms have plenty to work with.
