Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

Google proudly announces today it is “taking the wraps off” its Public Policy Blog. Hooray? Perhaps for those who enjoy reading Google public propaganda.

Google is it at its Googley finest when it spins ”we are all in this together” tales:

Yes, we’re a multinational corporation that argues for our positions before officials, legislators and opinion leaders. At the same time we want our users to be part of the effort, to know what wer’re saying and why, to help us refine and improve our policy positions and advocacy strategies. With input and ideas from our users, we’ll surely do a beter job of fighting for our common interests.

Which “common interests” will top Googler billionaires Sergey Brin and Larry Page be fighting for in Washington DC on behalf of minimum wage, no health insurance middle America?

Google states: “This blog is part of the dialogue we’re hoping to foster.” The Google record proves otherwise, however.

In Google: The Great Intimidator I document Google’s modus operandi of a communications command and control strategy aimed at strengthening one-way Google power and influence.

How does Google really “do public policy advocacy in a Googley way”? With 1) big Google money, and 2) big Google arm twisting.

Google has had a direct lobbying presence in the U.S. capital since 2005, when it recruited lobbyist Alan Davidson, formerly of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Google funded advocacy group. Since that time, Google has built a team of lobbyists and retains ouside lobbying firepower as needed on an issue by issue basis. In October, Google is slated to takeover new digs in DC, solidifying its Washington lobbying strategy.

Google’s latest power D.C. recruit: Johanna Shelton, who served as senior counsel for telecommunications and the Internet to the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative John Dingell, who steers media, telephone and Web policy.

In lobbying Washington, Google is not breaking new influence peddling ground; Arch rival Microsoft can attest to that.

On the state level, however, Google is doing things in a uniquely Google style, big time.

In a never ending quest to build out its “massively scalable infrastructure” throughout the U.S., Google is having its say, and its way, with impressionable state officials. What’s more, the Google power moves on state legislatures and governments are maneuvered in “top secret” fashion, unbeknownst to state taxpaying residents.

For example: Google strong-armed government officials in North Carolina earlier this year when it made a decision to build a server farm in the state subject to special tax breaks, according to Charlotte Observer reports:

Google tried to silence lawmakers and pushed, at times with a heavy hand, to influence legislation designed to bring the company to Caldwell County. The company demanded that legislators never speak its name, and had them scolded when word of its interest in North Carolina leaked out.

As work proceeded on the bill to remove much of its tax burden, Google threatened to end negotiations because legislative staff didn’t write exactly what it wanted. State Commerce Secretary Jim Fain was asked to “prevail upon” the bill writer. Indeed, the first set of state documents released from the 13-month negotiations reveal a company obsessed with secrecy and not above bullying, tactics that helped get it tax breaks that could top $100 million over three decades.

“I sort of had to work in the dark,” said Sen. Jim Jacumin, a Republican who represents Caldwell County. “That bothered me. They need to respect the laws of the land, even if they’re business.”

When Google sets its server farm sights on Iowa, state officials there got the same Googley treatment as North Carolina representatives experienced, according to Radio Iowa reports. Google apparently succeeded in wooing a legislative representative to serve as a prime Google spokesperson, Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo:

According to Dotzler, the trend now is away from having a computer with all the bells and whistles — the software programs — and toward “server farms” which give computer users access to a wide variety of options they’d be hard-pressed to store on a single computer.

“YouTube is a perfect example of that where they have all that stuff sitting in servers and you can access it instantaneously,” Dotzler says. The bill Iowa lawmakers are crafting would erase state sales taxes on the electricity used in such “server farms” and Dotzler says that would amount to a huge savings for a company like Google.

How about Google in Oklahoma? Ditto, and then some.

In anticipation of the construction of a Google data center in Pryor, Google reportedly demanded the state rewrite its own laws governing required disclosures of utilities: The Legislature and Governor Brad Henry approved a law that would allow municipal power companies not to report usage by their large industrial customers.

Why is $160 billion market cap Google using secretive bullying tactics across the U.S. to accomplish its server farm manifest destiny? Why does Google believe the success of an advertising company depends upon operating as if it manufactures nuclear weapons in defense of the nation’s security? 

Just as Google keeps its advertising clients in the auction bidding blind to maximize keyword prices and Google profits, Google keeps the public and all of its constituents, vendors, and prospective partners in the business blind to minimize its expenses and maximize its profits.

Google has itself acknowledged that it views secrecy, or surprise, as one of its chief competitive advantages: 

What’s next from Google? It’s hard to say. We don’t talk much about what lies ahead, because we believe one of our chief competitive advantages is surprise.

In other Google words, don’t expect Google to deliver on a vaunted “real conversation” it touts today in proclaiming its Public Policy Blog.

UPDATE: Cisco to Google: Get Real!

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN