GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Google Helped Honor FTC Chairman During Agency Inquiry

Heath · 02-28-2013, 02:48 PM

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...y-inquiry.html

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Google Inc. (GOOG) contributed $25,000 to honor the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission while the company was under investigation by the agency for antitrust violations, Senate records show.

Google donated the money to Common Sense Media Inc., a San Francisco-based advocacy group that gave FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz an award for his work in developing policies to help children, according to a January disclosure report. Google was listed as one of the sponsors of the awards ceremony along with several other companies, including Comcast Corp., AOL Inc. and a charitable arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

At the time, the FTC was investigating whether Mountain View, California-based Google unfairly disadvantaged competing websites by favoring its own services in search results. The agency ended the 20-month antitrust probe on Jan. 3 with no enforcement action. Google agreed to voluntary changes in some search practices and signed a consent decree regarding the use of certain patents.

“It’s a little bit odd that they’re donating to Common Sense Media at the exact same time they’re trying to influence Jon Leibowitz,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group. “It really looks terrible.”

Leibowitz, who had been chairman since 2009, announced on Feb. 1 that he would leave the commission. The White House announced today that current commissioner Edith Ramirez will succeed him as chairman.

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Lobbying Increase
The increased spending boosted the company into the top 10 lobbying organizations, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group that tracks expenditures.
Its PAC gave $885,500 to candidates for the 2012 elections, more than double the $343,000 in donations made for the 2010 races, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In addition, those working for Google and their families gave $805,120 to President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, second only to those at Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) among corporate employees.
“When you start having problems, you start lobbying, you start making political donations and you start financing the favored charities of those you wish to influence,” Sloan said.