Thursday, June 11, 2009

In California, Google's man is well-connected

June 10, 2009

Google Inc. (GOOG) is making progress in expanding its Washington D.C. political presence. But the Internet giant has already secured at least one key hire in its home state, who is helping oversee an entity likely to play a significant role in pulling in California's share of federal broadband stimulus funding.

Ross LaJeunesse, Google's head of state policy for the western U.S., sits on the board of the California Emerging Technology Fund, established by the state's Public Utilities Commission in 2005 using $60 million extracted from AT&T Inc. and Verizon (VZ) in return for permission to complete ...