REUTERS - Alphabet’s Google is
racing to hire more conservatives for its lobbying and policy arm, trying to
get a foothold in President-elect Donald Trump’s Washington
after enjoying a
uniquely close relationship with the administration of President Barack Obama.
In the weeks since
the Nov. 8 election, Google has ramped up efforts to hire Republican lobbying
firms and in-house lobbyists to change the composition of its Washington
office, according to three lobbyists with knowledge of the matter.
The company also
posted an advertisement for a manager for conservative outreach and public
policy partnership, seeking a "liaison to conservative, libertarian and
free market groups."
While the position
is not new, it gives Google a chance to make a hire that reflects the new
political climate. Conservatives already are represented in the office.
A Google spokeswoman
declined to comment on the record for this article.
Chief Executive Officer
Larry Page of Alphabet, Google's parent company, is expected to be in the room
on Wednesday when Trump convenes a gathering of leaders of some of the largest
technology companies in his New York headquarters. The session, organized by
Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, adviser Reince Priebus and Trump supporter and
tech financier Peter Thiel, is billed as an introductory meeting that would not
result in any job or investment announcements, two sources briefed on the talks
said.
Others attending are
Apple Inc Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, Facebook Inc Chief Operating
Officer Sheryl Sandberg, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, Tesla Motors Inc CEO Elon
Musk, Microsoft Corp CEO Satya Nadella and Oracle CEO Safra Catz, according to
sources familiar with the session plans.
The Information
Technology Industry Council, a trade group whose members include Google, Apple,
Facebook and Amazon, had a conference call last Friday to discuss policy
objectives it could agree on to present to Trump, according to a person familiar
with the call.
Trump clashed with
Silicon Valley on several issues during the election campaign, including
immigration, government surveillance and encryption. His surprise victory
alarmed many companies, which fear he might follow through on his pledges.
Trump has also
opposed the Obama administration's "net neutrality" rules, ordered in
2015 by the communications regulator to reclassify broadband internet services
to treat them more like public utilities. The rule is now said to be headed for
a reversal.
GOOGLE BET HEAVILY
ON CLINTON
Liberal-leaning
Silicon Valley bet heavily on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
winning the White House, and many technology companies have found themselves
scrambling in the wake of Trump's election. But Google, which forged deep ties
to the Obama White House and was the largest corporate contributor to Clinton's
campaign, appears to have been caught especially off guard, Washington insiders
said.
Only 33 employees of
Google and its parent company Alphabet donated $201 or more to Trump, for a
total of $23,300. Clinton received donations from 1,359 Google or Alphabet
employees for a total of $1.6 million. Google NetPAC, the company's political
action committee, made 56 percent of its contributions to Republicans in the
2016 election cycle, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
During Obama's
presidency, more than 250 people moved between jobs at Google or related firms
and the federal government, national political campaigns and Congress,
according to a report this year by the Campaign for Accountability, a watchdog
group. The company notched several wins during the administration, including
favorable policies on net neutrality.
Google seemed poised
to enjoy similar treatment under a Clinton administration. Schmidt was seen
wearing a staff badge at Clinton's election night party, a sign of their close
relationship. But those ties are now something of a liability as the company
tries to re-position its presence, lobbyists said.
The hiring push will
adjust the political makeup of Google's Washington office, where the team of
lobbyists for Congress and the agencies contains more Democrats than
Republicans, according to people familiar with the operation. Such a skew is
not unusual given that Democrats controlled the White House the past eight
years.
To be sure,
conservatives are well-represented in the company's Washington office: Susan
Molinari, a former Republican congresswoman from New York, has been the top
lobbyist since 2012, and Seth Webb, who worked for a former Republican speaker
of the house, helps lead Congressional lobbying.
But the company has
tended toward moderate Republicans in past hiring. Its previous director of
conservative outreach was alumnus of Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign,
and a number of former staffers for Sen. John McCain have passed through the
office as well.
But the company
still has to reconcile the lobbyists it hires with its liberal-leaning existing
staff. Said one lobbyist for a rival tech company, "I think they are going
to have a tough time really finding the cultural fit."
REUTERS
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