Google filled its long-vacant top D.C. policy job Friday by hiring Mark Isakowitz, a Capitol Hill staffer and longtime Republican lobbyist whose main challenge will be helping the search giant confront its litany of legal and political battles in Washington.
Isakowitz is the chief of staff to Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, who dealt the online industry a serious legislative blow last year with a new law making websites liable for content that enables sex trafficking. Google also faces multiple antitrust probes, as well as accusations — from GOP lawmakers and President Donald Trump — that it suppresses conservative speech.
In his new role, Isakowitz will fill a job last held by Susan Molinari, a former Republican congresswoman from New York. She departed late last year amid a broader shakeup of the company’s lobbying operation led by Google global public policy chief Karan Bhatia, a George W. Bush administration alumnus.
[…]
Source: GOP staffer tasked with saving Google from trouble in D.C. – POLITICO