Hard ball

Raleigh News Observer | Feb. 5, 2007 (Editorial)

Some public officials were bullied by Google when the company sought tax breaks for a facility. It is not a pretty story

Thanks to laws that mandate release of documents pertaining to the recruitment of industry, North Carolinians now have a clear and very ugly picture of just what went on behind the scenes as Caldwell County officials and legislators sought to land a Google computer center for Lenoir. It was no small deal: Google could bring as much as a $600 million investment and 200 jobs. The company got a sweet little arrangement, too, with tax breaks that could amount ... Full Story »

Posted by Kaizar Campwala

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3.2

by Dale Penn - Oct. 1, 2008

I thought this story was okay, but it doesn't surprise me that government employees working on a big deal would sign confidentiality agreements (one hopes they would have legal eagles to guide them on this), or that Google would put pressure on the entity with which it is negotiating a business deal. Business is business. Anyone with a major league sports team (and a new ball park) in their city knows how this works.