White House Emails Show Extensive Improper Contact With Google

Peter Flaherty National Legal and Policy Center 07/22/2010 19:17

Recent email communication between White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin (in photo), who is Google’s former head of Global Public Policy, and multiple outside individuals raise new questions about the official’s alleged circumvention of federal ethics and recordkeeping rules.

McLaughlin’s communications with Google officials and others about issues that directly benefit the company appears to be more extensive than indicated by a May White House report, which resulted in an official reprimand of Mr. McLaughlin. Click here for a 12-page pdf of the McLaughlin emails.

Administration rules expressly prohibit former lobbyist company officials like McLaughlin from involving themselves in federal policies that materially impact their former employer. But the new emails, which NLPC obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, show a continued pattern in which Mr. McLaughlin communicates with another apparent Google lobbyist, the leader of a Google-funded organization that lobbies in support of Google’s primary area of federal interest, and the head of a nonprofit that works closely with Google lobbyists.

The topics in the email communication involve many of Google’s highest priority lobbying issues, including FTC rules on online privacy; Administration broadband policy, including Net neutrality; and intellectual property rules.

As Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Internet Policy, McLaughlin is at the policymaking nexus of virtually all of the most important Internet issues being debated in the country today. There is now no doubt – none whatsoever – that a more serious investigation of potential ethics breaches is warranted. These emails raise additional questions about whether Mr. McLaughlin’s efforts circumvented or just plain ignored federal ethics rules.