Top lobbyists and executives with Google have no trouble getting a meeting with President Barack Obama.
A review of White House visitor logs shows that Google's top men and women in Washington are regular visitors to the White House -- they have been dropped by on a weekly basis since 2009.
All those visits mean Google has plenty of influence over tech policy, and who knows what else. Watchdog's Johnny Kampis is the author a series of articles examining the political influence of everyone's favorite search engine, and this week his sits down with Eric Boehm to talk Google's frequent White House visits and what else the company is doing in Washington.
Then, Evan Grossman stops by to talk about the stunning new audit of the Philadelphia School District. One of the findings: the district is not conducting background checks on school bus drivers, and has allowed some convicted criminals to drive kids around the city.
Also: Do the Texas Rangers really need another taxpayer-funded baseball stadium? And what's the deal with the Obama administration's new overtime work rules?
All that, plus our Nanny State of the Week and our Picks of the Litter, on this edition of the Watchdog Podcast.
