Google names former GOP House member Susan Molinari to head DC office

Google named former Republican congresswoman Susan Molinari to head its Washington lobbying and policy office, as the search giant fights scrutiny by federal regulators over antitrust and privacy issues.

Molinari represented New York in the House from 1990 to 1997. She takes over from Alan Davidson, who recently left the firm after building the office from a small think-tank type of operation to a more powerful and traditional corporate influence, doubling its lobbying budget to $11 million in the last year. As vice president of public policy and government relations for the Americas, Molinari will manage Google’s policy advocacy in Washington and throughout North and South America.

After her father, former Rep. Guy Molinari (R-N.Y.), left Congress to become borough president of Staten Island, Molinari was elected to his seat in 1990. She was the keynote speaker at the 1996 Republican Convention and served until 1997, when she resigned to join CBS as a television journalist. She joined the Washington Group lobby firm in 2001 and launched her own lobbyist shop, Susan Molinari Strategies, in 2010. She currently serves as chairman of the Century Council, which fights to reduce drunken driving. Molinari is married to former Rep. Bill Paxon (R-NY), who served as chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee in the 1990s and is now a lobbyist at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.