The Lobbyist Merry Go Round: Google Names Former GOP House Member Susan Molinari to Head D.C. Office - Post Tech
Google on Thursday named former Republican congresswoman Susan Molinari to head its Washington lobbying and policy office as the search giant fights off antitrust and privacy scrutiny by federal regulators.
The three-term representative from New York takes over from Alan Davidson, who recently left the firm after taking the office from a small think-tank type of operation to a more powerful and traditional corporate influence, doubling its budget on lobbying to $11 million in the last year.
“I am excited about Susan joining Google,” said David Drummond, the company’s senior vice president and chief legal officer. “She’s a true trailblazer, and her enthusiasm for our technology and its potential to change lives will be a real asset to our team in the Americas.”
Molinari, who served in Congress from 1990 to 1997, joins Google as it responds to a deluge of criticism over its business practices as the dominant search engine for online users. Lawmakers, state attorneys general and consumer groups have called for investigations into the firm’s planned privacy policy changes on March 1, when it will begin to build more complete profiles of users across its services once they are signed onto Gmail and other accounts. The firm has also been accused of circumventing privacy settings of mobile browser Safari.