Google’s veil of silence trembled a bit this weekend, as the company confirmed that it continues to explore the possibility of building two huge data centers in South Carolina, one near Charleston and one near Columbia, in addition to the one it has already announced it will build in North Carolina. The site near Charleston, a 520-acre plot, is already in the process of being cleared in preparation for construction, according to the Associated Press. The AP report continues:

“We hope to have more details soon,” Google spokesman Barry Schnitt said. The two South Carolina properties are not competing for the same project or jobs, Schnitt said. He said the Mountain View, California-based company also is looking at sites around the world. “Some we will begin construction on immediately,” he said. “Some may be held in reserve to be used if a site does not work out somewhere else or as business needs dictate.”

Google’s sudden announcement regarding its South Carolina plans comes on the heels of a story in last Thursday’s Raleigh News & Observer, by Jonathan Cox, that was highly critical of the company’s aggressive negotiating tactics in North Carolina. Google, according to Cox,

tried to silence lawmakers and pushed – at times with a heavy hand – to influence legislation designed to bring the company to Caldwell County. The company demanded that legislators never speak its name, and had them scolded when word of its interest in North Carolina leaked out, according to records made public this week.

As work proceeded on the bill to remove much of its tax burden, Google threatened to end negotiations because legislative staff didn’t write exactly what it wanted. State Commerce Secretary Jim Fain was asked to “prevail upon” the bill writer.

Cox reports that the newly released state documents “reveal a company obsessed with secrecy and not above bullying, tactics that helped get it tax breaks that could top $100 million over three decades.” One of the documents quotes an email sent by a Google executive, Rhett Weiss, to the state’s commerce secretary complaining about the state legislature’s consideration of a Google-pushed bill granting special tax breaks to Internet data centers: “This legislation has remained cursed with unfortunate and petty dickering from the legislative drafting side – mainly refusing to reinsert better word choice. … Without the legislation being passed with its correct substance, our project will not proceed in North Carolina. … I always believed North Carolina to be a good state in which to do business. But the legislation’s long saga increasingly concerns us. Will creating and operating a North Carolina facility continue to be so hassle-prone?” CNET’s Michael Kanellos says Google’s actions reveal an attitude of “effete disdain.”

Some of North Carolina’s elected officials, including legislators, gave in to Google’s demand that they sign nondisclosure agreements to keep the company’s identity secret. As Cox reports:

That posed challenges for elected officials, charged with conducting the public’s business in the open. As the tax measure wended its way through the legislature, some lawmakers began linking it to Google. That prompted a strong rebuke from Weiss. “We respect the legislature needs to conduct its business, to deliberate on bills,” Weiss wrote in a June 7 e-mail to Hobart. But legislators must understand that the project likely will be canceled if anyone “mentions the company’s interest in the bill, North Carolina, or the project itself.”

Based on Cox’s reporting, it seems that Google sought to steer the North Carolina legislature’s deliberations while keeping its influence secret. That goes beyond tough bargaining. One senses that this story may get a whole lot bigger. Where else is Google using such tactics?

UPDATE: More here and here and here.