September 18, 2006

Google is somewhat trying to increase its political stance by simply creating its first political action group, while at the same time taking certain steps to reach out to the Republican party.

To be sure, Google is trying to join a certain club of corporate titans that have established major political operations in Washington D.C., in hopes of pushing for legislation and muster more votes.

Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles and an expert on money management in politics says "to be truly successful, Google has probably learned that you have to make some campaign contributions." "I'm almost certain they've been told many times by important decision makers in Washington that 'If you want to play, you will have to play by our rules or you won't play at all.'

According to Alan Davidson, Google's Washington policy counsel, on Sep. 14, Google filed some paperwork to register its political action committee, Google NetPAC, with the Federal Election Commission. The company intends to use the committee "to support candidates who promote an open and free Internet for our users."

Additionally, Google increased its political clout by hiring former Republican Sens. Dan Coats of Indiana and Connie Mack of Florida as outside lobbyists. The political veterans may go a long way in building Google's ties with Republicans, a group widely considered to be the opposition-based on the overwhelming preference by Google employees to make campaign contributions to Democrats.

In 2005, Google has been buffeted by several issues on Capitol Hill. For example, the company has been fighting legislation that would throw out the status quo of network neutrality (Net Neutrality). The controversial new rules would make it a lot easier for cable and telcos to create a tiered Internet and charge Web sites extra to deliver their content more quickly to users.

What's more, a Google executive was treated somewhat like a punching bag in a House hearing on Internet censorship in China. One member even compared Google to Nazi collaborators for removing sensitive material from its search results pages!

Overall, Google's push in Washington also involves co-sponsoring its first political fundraiser. On Sep. 13, the company, along with eBay and TechNet will hold an event for embattled Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., at the Capitol Hill Club, a swanky Republican redoubt in Washington.

Wilson supports Google's position on network neutrality. Her vote could be key if the issue comes up again next year, as it is widely expected. Google's Davidson said the political action committee and extra lobbyists are "the next logical step as we create and maintain long-term and high-profile relationships with many policy makers." He acknowledged facing an uphill battle on some of those issues.

Davidson strongly denied that Google is generally sympathetic to the Democratic Party and instead would cast its interests as bipartisan. "Openness and innovation and free markets are values shared by both parties," he said. Given its independent streak, Google's move is seen as uncharacteristic, down to its own corporate motto, "Don't do evil." But as the company has grown into a major presence in U.S. business, it has been thrust into political debates on which ride tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

"This is very, very symptomatic of the way high tech has evolved in California," said Larry Gerston, political science professor at San Jose State University and an expert on Silicon Valley politics. "These companies started out with an entrepreneurial spirit and a feeling that what was important was the product and the people, so they didn't have to care about politics.

But as they become more sophisticated, they realized that politics could either protect them or hurt them." In typical Google fashion, the company incorporated some iconoclasm in its political efforts. As usual, a board of directors will oversee the political action committee. However, Google plans to add a second layer of advisers made up of employees to give them a voice in who to give money to and how much. The company is also considering giving employees an incentive to contribute to the political action committee. Google would match any money they give with a charitable donation of equal value.

For the time being, the political action committee is mostly unfunded. Google said it is still working out many of the details. Founded in 1998, Google is no neophyte to Washington politics. For many years, the company has had lobbyists on various specific issues, although its overall spending has been far less than other, older Silicon Valley companies such as Cisco and Intel.

To be sure, Google opened an office in D.C. last year and staffed it with Davidson, a former associate director of the Center for Democracy & Technology in Washington. It has since added Jamie Brown, a former White House staffer under President Bush, and Robert Boorstin, a former speech writer and foreign policy adviser in the Clinton administration, as communications director. Stern said that Google will tailor its political operations to whichever party is in power. While the company may have hired a couple of Republican lobbyists now, "I'm sure that when the Democrats come into power, they'll hire a Democrat."

Source: SF Gate