At a grown-up Google, top lobbyists on payroll

[Judi Lynn]

At a grown-up Google, top lobbyists on payroll
By Kate Phillips The New York Times

TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2006

WASHINGTON

~snip~
Started less than a decade ago in a Stanford University dormitory, Google has evolved into a multibillion-dollar business, its search engine ubiquitous on the Internet. Its sprawling growth, fueled by a public stock offering in August 2004 that created a market behemoth, has now thrust it into the glare of Washington.

As lawmakers and regulators begin looking carefully at its ventures in China and other countries and as its Web surfers worry about the privacy of their online searches, Google is making adjustments that do not fit neatly with its maverick image.

It has begun expanding its lobbying and legislative operations, after largely ignoring Washington for years, in a scramble to match bases long established here by competitors like Yahoo and Microsoft, as well as the deeply entrenched telecommunication companies.

In addition to hiring politically connected lobbying firms and consultants with ties to Republican leaders like the party chairman, Ken Mehlman, as well as Representative Dennis Hastert of Illinois, the speaker of the House, and Senator John McCain of Arizona, Google's advisers say the company may set up a fund-raising arm for political donations to candidates. And in a town where Republicans hold the levers of power, Google has begun stockpiling pieces of the party's machine.
(snip/...)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/28/business/google.php

[DUHandle]

1. O.K., I'll move my business to ask

[Vidar]

2. Bullshit--a smear piece against one of the few honorable.businesses.