Consumer groups urged the White House on Wednesday to back off its reported pick for deputy chief technology officer because he was listed as a registered lobbyist for Google.
Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Digital Democracy said Andrew McLaughlin, the head of Google’s global public policy, would break President Barack Obama’s executive order barring lobbyists from serving in policy areas they lobbied in the previous two years.
McLaughlin was mistakenly listed in Senate records as a lobbyist in 2007 and the company amended the reports in 2008, said Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich, adding that McLaughlin is leaving the company.
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"Andrew's activity was never sufficient to trigger the lobbying disclosure requirement, and he should have never been registered as a lobbyist in the first place,” Kovacevich said.
McLaughlin was also an officer in Google’s political action committee, which made $270,000 in donations to federal candidates during the past election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
