Google Government

The blogosphere is buzzing over last week's report that Google head of global public policy Andrew McLaughlin will join the Obama administration as deputy chief technology officer under Aneesh Chopra. McLaughlin will be the third Googler to leave the company for the administration, following in the footsteps of Katie Jacobs Stanton, White House director of citizen participation; and Sonal Shah, head of the Office of Social Innovation. Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt also advised Obama's transition team and currently serves on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

There's a growing concern that the number of defectors may tilt the Obama administration towards favoring the Internet search giant when formulating policy. It's an issue we've been watching closely as well. Google has definitely increased its presence in DC in recent years and the company has shown increasing interest in the government space, both in terms of doing business with agencies as well as increasing engagement between the public and the government. In fact, I'll be attending an event at Google DC tomorrow morning where the company says it will discuss its enterprise search offerings for the federal sector.

The number of Google alumni populating the administration also is likely to increase until it rivals Goldman Sachs as a breeding ground for future federal leaders. To some extent this is understandable. Like Goldman Sachs, Google is considered one of the most desirable companies to work for in any industry. Both companies annually have their pick of the top graduates of America's best universities. If the object is to find the best and brightest leaders for public service, Google is a good place to start looking.

However, the recent financial crisis has demonstrated the downside of the government binding itself too tightly with any company or sector of industry. The increasing influence of former Wall Street executives in Washington combined with the financial sector's powerful lobbying efforts resulted in much of the deregulation that contributed to the current economic downturn. As more Silicon Valley executives make their way to Washington, we could see a similar rise of influence as companies like Google increase the amount of time and resources spent influencing lawmakers.

Any favor shown by the administration is likely to be towards the entire digital sector, not Google or any other individual company. It knows the media is watching and is politically savvy enough to avoid any overt gestures of favoritism. Policies that favor Internet companies generally could be the result, though it's not clear what those would be.

Interestingly, the administration has yet to announce Shah's appointment publicly, though they have confirmed it to Nextgov and other media outlets. Shah has been making the rounds to various philanthropic organizations discussing her role, but the White House has refused to comment on her appointment or the office she will lead. This could just be an oversight, but it also could be designed to avoid discussing Shah's misleading statements about her past connections to right-wing Hindu groups.