Google's refusal puts Sen Herb Kohl on spot

Google’s refusal last week to let Chief Executive Officer Larry Page or Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt testify at a Senate antitrust hearing on the tech giant’s alleged bad acts put the screws to subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl. Chairman Kohl now has a dilemma: Subpoena a tech icon or back down and potentially undermine the panel’s authority to compel top corporate executives to appear. It’s no easy call.

Congressional subpoenas typically are reserved for extraordinary situations — a banking meltdown or a colossal oil spill. Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat, and Mike Lee of Utah, ranking member on the Senate Judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee, must decide whether Google’s behavior in Internet search warrants going to the mat. “That seems to be a bit over the top,” said Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar with the American Enterprise Institute. “You bring in financial executives after the collapse, or tobacco executives. This could be seen as an exercise in slamming Google.” At the same time, Ornstein and others said Google’s refusal to play ball with a congressional committee appears unwise — even naive.