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Officials have worked hard to draw in new employers.

"We are being entrusted with a major opportunity," John Howard, executive director of the Caldwell County Economic Development Commission, wrote in an e-mail to local officials on May 31. "Clearly, we must deliver all that they are now expecting, and as quickly as we can."

The courtship was rocky at times. The documents suggest that on several occasions negotiations appeared close to failing. Issues as varied as land prices and flood plains threatened to undermine the deal.

Keeping mum

And again and again, the need for privacy came up. Executives didn't want anybody even to mention the company's name for fear that competitors could learn of its plans. Most involved with the negotiations were required to sign nondisclosure agreements.

Commerce Department officials refused to sign the agreements but officials in Caldwell County did, as did some legislators.

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."

Negotiators went into full panic mode after The Charlotte Observer on July 21 outed the negotiations. Google representatives blamed the legislature for leaking the information, and there was much consternation at headquarters.

Bobby White, the Caldwell County manager at the time, on July 24 sent an e-mail message to the county's delegation, asking them to keep mum and warning of the repercussions of more disclosure.

"We all hope and pray the project will be able to continue," he wrote.

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