The growing scrutiny of the company’s stated aim to organize all the world’s information, and its more prosaic acquisition of DoubleClick, means Google has to pay more attention to Washington’s K Street lobbying practices.
Google Needs K Street View Of DC
Navigating the unfriendly streets of DC by car will lead the first-time driver to encounter the city’s challenging traffic circles. These were designed at a time when the horse and buggy were the transportation method of choice.
You can’t lose your head when trying to merge a very modern auto with the high-speed traffic flying around them. Google has encountered its traffic circle in DC in the form of lawmakers and regulatory agencies, and those are nearly as lethal to a relatively free-wheeling tech company as the real ones are for drivers.
Google will have permanent digs in the Capitol in October, according to a Bloomberg report on the company’s plans. The political reality of Washington has set in for Google; tribute must be paid to lawmakers, in the form of lobbying.
Analyst Blair Levin of Stifel Nicolaus said in the report that Google’s relationship with Washington could have a long-term impact on its stock. He noted the reality of how the company may have to make the occasional deal with the devil to get what it wants:
Tradeoffs that are routine in Washington — making a concession on one issue to win on another — may prove difficult for Google, Levin said. A company will typically lend support to a lawmaker who backs one of its initiatives, even after finding the official’s views on other items “abhorrent,” he said.
“Google has a certain kind of uncompromising sensibility that will be tested in this context,” Levin said.
Al Gore’s pal Eric Schmidt may not like the idea of playing nice with a Republican Senator on a key committee. Lobbyists may have to tell him to suck it up and deal with it. Washington politics is anything but a carefree ride around the Googleplex on a bike.
