Google “Susan Molinari” today and you’ll quickly learn that the search engine giant has hired the former Republican Congresswoman from New York to head its Washington office, marking a new chapter in Google’s relationship with Washington.
Molinari replaces Alan Davidson, who had opened Google’s Washington’s office back in 2005. The switch in leadership is telling. Davidson had a very different background from Molinari. He had been the associate director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, which advocates for an open and free internet.
Molinari, by contrast, is an experienced Washington hand, who has been registered to lobby since 1999, when she started her own lobbying firm, Susan Molinari LLC with three clients: The Association of American Railroads, iAdvance (part of MetaBank) and the mortgage giant Freddie Mac. By 2001, she had added some blue-chip companies to her list, including Exelon, SBC Communications, and Verizon Communications.
Google gets a DC insider to run its Washington office
