She is on Twitter, at least; not only does she follow the Google CEO on her @teflonblondie account, but the Burson Marsteller flack also tracks him on the much more selective @momnet, where he joins Demi Moore as one of just five followed accounts. We've been told the @momnet account is Simon's, and that seems obvious enough: It's owned by "marcy" and Simon retweets its content the very instant it goes online.

Her relationship with the nominally married Schmidt, whether professional or something more, does seem to be humming along again: Our tipster says the pair were spotted together in Los Angeles, at the opening of The Little Seed, the organic cosmetics company co-owned by Punky Brewster actress Soleil Moon Frye, who Simon and Schmidt both follow on Twitter.

As interesting as Simon's make-up shopping may be, we're more intrigued in the bridal jewelry retailer she's become a fan of on Facebook. A client? A friend's shop? Or is something more interesting brewing? We might feel uneasy asking such a personal question if this wasn't totally innocent, public information (per Facebook), and if virtuous people like Simon had any use for secrets (they don't, per Schmidt).

We were surprised to see a carefully-calibrated communicator like Simon drop Schmidt's name on her Twitter stream (see screenshot below); she's been tight-lipped about Schmidt in the past. And isn't she supposed to be pimping TV gigs by Burson's actual clients, like Microsoft?

We're guessing some sort of new relationship is afoot, if not between Schmidt and Simon, then between Google and Burson:

Simon, we hear, joined Schmidt on his jet for a flight last Thursday from California to Teterboro. Apparently she wasn't put off by his taking her last month, as we heard he did, to The Island Mermaid on Fire Island when the couple visited together there in August. That's the same place where Schmidt took actor Stanley Tucci three years ago; we'd urged him to find a new haunt.

But between this Simon-Schmidt sighting and the earlier ones in Aspen and California, it's sounding increasingly like Schmidt is a creature of habit. Which shouldn't affect Google shareholders — unless it causes Schmidt to inadvertently expose something of himself to the PR firm of his lethal enemy (we're talking about proprietary information here, pervs). Or unless it leads to a relationship that finally puts in play Schmidt's Google shares, via a divorce from the wife from whom he's reportedly separated.

If you know anything, including why Punky Brewster was also tweeting up Schmidt, we'd love to hear from you.

Our spies in 2006 told us Schmidt spent time on Fire Island, where Simon has a house, the year before; later in summer 2006 the New York Post reported a sighting of Schmidt leaving the restaurant Island Mermaid there with actor Stanley Tucci. By the end of 2007, the couple had broken up amid talk Schmidt was also seeing Kate Bohner, the business writer.

But now one tipster, a self-described friend of Bohner's, tells us that relationship is finished (commitment issues), while another says Schmidt visited Simon's place on Fire Island "a few times" last month. Meanwhile, the married CEO still hasn't divorced his wife. For all this cycling through old flames, one hopes Schmidt's vacations at least involve new restaurants.

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(Pic: Dave McClure)

We hear Eric Schmidt and Simon have been spotted together in several different places recently, including at the Aspen Ideas Conference in Colorado (both attended, Simon even Twittered) as well as back in Schmidt's home state of California.

Of course, with Simon flacking for the PR firm Buson-Marsteller, there could well be professional reasons for the face time. And not just from Simon's point of view: having parted ways with the well-connected flack both personally and professionally, Schmidt would be wise to make her an ally again.

For both Schmidt and Simon, a purely vocational reunion may be the wisest way to get back together.

The FTC, which polices antitrust violations along with the Department of Justice, is investigating Apple and Google for a potential violation of a 1914 law against overlapping boards which may hinder competition.

People in Silicon Valley have long wondered at the close ties between Apple and Google. When Google CEO Eric Schmidt joined Apple's board in 2006, Apple had yet to launch the iPhone and Google wasn't a player in the cell-phone market. But the depth of ties seemed curious, even without that conflict. Genentech CEO Art Levinson already served on both boards, and two Apple board members, Bill Campbell and Al Gore, served as Google advisors. That's a block of four directors — half the board, able to stalemate any Google-unfriendly strategic move.

It's an obvious thing to investigate. But why now, since it's been the case for years? Schmidt campaigned for Barack Obama, and was recently appointed as a science advisor to the president. Fat lot of good that's done him. This is the second antitrust case Google is facing, following one over a settlement with book publishers which critics say would limit competition in book search.

The Obama administration, despite its ties to Schmidt, has signaled that it will be more aggressive in antitrust enforcement (as Democratic administrations usually are). But what else do Google and Apple share, besides directors? A common enemy in Microsoft. And Microsoft has hired Burson-Marsteller, a PR and lobbying outfit which lists "position[ing] technology firms in antitrust cases" as one of its specialties. A Burson-Marsteller executive has denied lobbying against Google on Microsoft's behalf. So modest! At the same time, the firm, run by loathsome unterflack Mark Penn, went as far as to hire Eric Schmidt's ex-girlfriend to help out its tech practice. Revenge is a dish best served with a summons from the antitrust cops.

A tipster tells us that Simon is "running the somewhat secret Penn campaign for Microsoft trying to throw dust into Google's gears (like trumped-up antitrust issues, for instance, not to mention privacy complaints." Our source adds that the campaign "is heavily under wraps," with employees forbidden to discuss it, and goes under a cover name (possibly "iCom").

It's good timing for Penn to rev up the business. Barack Obama's incoming antitrust cop, Christine Varney, seems friendly to the notion that Google's dominance of Internet advertising could pose antitrust issues.

Which leaves Simon's pick as point person as the only curiosity about the campaign. Reached by phone at Burson Marsteller, Simon did not elaborate on why she joined the firm or left her recent gig at Thomson Reuters, but promised to call back. She hasn't done so yet. Update: But her boss, Josh Gottheimer, a former speechwriter for Bill Clinton, gave us a ring to deny "categorically" that Simon will have any involvement in any anti-Google efforts. He also says, "We are not lobbying for Microsoft against Google."

As it happens, Microsoft and Burson-Marsteller are the sole names of any note in a largely European initiative called Icomp (likely the "iCom" our tipster referred to) to promote "vigorous competition" in the "online marketplace" — which seems like a thinly veiled effort to lobby against Google's domination of Internet advertising.

Penn, the incompetent PR guy whose bad advice was widely credited with losing the presidency for Hillary Clinton, has taken on Microsoft chairman Bill Gates as a client before. But Simon rivals him in her access to the customer: It's widely believed that she and Gates carried on an affair when she last worked for Microsoft.

More recently, she took up with Google's Schmidt, picked up an engagement ring, and by the fall of 2007 had gotten a a job working on the launch of the Googlephone. That arrangement didn't last long, and soon afterwards, Schmidt and Simon split, with Schmidt (who's married) taking up with a new woman.

Simon has an acquaintance who also recently parted ways with Google: incoming AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. Armstrong is an investor in an online-publishing startup called Associated Content, which recently hired ex-Google Patrick Keane as its CEO, and we hear Simon might be taking him on as a client. She Twittered about his hire and emailed a press release listing her personal cell phone number and Hotmail address as a media contact.

Jennifer Graham, Burson's current head of tech PR, is said to be furious about the hire; Simon might replace her as head of Burson's global tech practice, according to one theory floating around. Gottheimer adds that Simon will be working for him on new business development and won't be involved in the technology practice. Which seems like a waste of her unique talents (and doesn't explain Simon's repping of Associated Content).

Given that, the antitrust assignment looks odd: Simon is not known for her political resume. She would seem to bring two unique qualifications to the job: Knowledge of the enemy, and a burning passsion for revenge. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

The foundation's two main programs are the 11th Hour Project, an organization which publishes links to information it deems "scientific" about global warming, and Greenhound LLC, a bus operator on Nantucket Island. Schmidt is the founder of the 11th Hour Project, and a longtime summer resident of Nantucket, where she is also an investor in downtown real estate.

Both superficially good causes. But if Eric wanted to give Wendy, who has a master's in journalism from Berkeley, a job writing environmental press releases, why didn't he just hire her at Google, as he did with ex-girlfriend Marcy Simon? And if the Schmidts want to boost the value of their Nantucket real estate with bus service, why don't they just pay for it themselves, rather than with the help of a tax-exempt charitable foundation?

Eric Schmidt complains about the lack of investigative journalism today. This seems like a good place to start. Compared to Bill and Melinda Gates, whose charity reaches around the globe, the Schmidts don't just come across as small-hearted. They look downright unimaginative.

Schrage, we hear, strongly opposed Simon's hiring as a consultant for the launch of the then-secret Googlephone — the collection of wireless software now known as Android. And Schmidt's extramarital relationships, first with Simon and later with Kate Bohner, were a source of friction between him and Schrage, not because Schrage disapproved, but because it hurt the company's image. Or so I've heard. I've run into Schrage twice at the conference, and he's made noises about talking to me, at which point I'll ask him directly about all this.

That's not the only run-in Schrage and Simon have had, though. Before taking her current gig at Thomson Reuters — one that Thomson Reuters PR staff are not very happy about — Simon made a strong play to take over PR at Facebook. She was not very gently rebuffed, and Schrage landed the job instead.

And yet here we see Schrage, smiling, or faking a smile, as he catches up on email as Simon and Wojcicki catch up. His new bosses at Facebook should be pleased they've hired someone so skilled at putting on appearances.

Security may prevent me from attending the formal program. But the hotel bar is lovely, I hear, and I intend to camp out there, to overhear what I may and hold court with brave (or incautious) tipsters. Folks I'm looking forward to running into:

• Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who threatened to shoot me
• Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer, or rather, his rumored chaperone at the event — Marcy Simon, Google CEO Eric Schmidt's ex-girlfriend
• Yahoo president Sue Decker, who is negotiating a divorce at the same time as a merger

And that's just for starters. See why I don't get invited to these things?

For you, gentle reader, I can endure a few awkward conversations and more. Peruse the list of speakers, think of questions you'd like me to ask, and I'll do my best to buttonhole them for you.

It's not the fact that the married Schmidt sleeps around that bothers Schrage (and most of his underlings in Google PR); it's how Schmidt mixes business and pleasure. His recent mistress, Marcy Simon, was temporarily installed in Google's New York office to head up PR for Google's still-nonexistent Googlephone. Simon's replacement, TV journalist Kate Bohner, has squired Schmidt, very publicly, to at least one political debate cosponsored by Google's YouTube and CNN. If Schrage wanted to deal with bimbo eruptions, he could have stayed in politics.

It's not clear Schrage is the best choice for the Facebook job, objectively speaking. One person who's worked with him says he's a disaster as a manager, and not particularly strong in the PR part of his duties, preferring the more high-falutin' policy work.

But that could make him the perfect yes-man to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's plans for world amelioration. At the South by Southwest conference, Zuckerberg talked, tongue not at all in cheek, about how Facebook could bring peace to the Middle East by preventing Arab teenages from turning into terrorists. He seems to believe sincerely in this stuff. And if it gets him a job at Facebook, Schrage is just slick enough to put on the illustion that he does, too.

In her little-watched "Watercooler Diaries" series on YouTube, Bohner films herself in a bikini, swimming with dolphins and interviewing Florida locals. In an on-camera commentary, Bohner makes the following observation about the dolphins:

The boys stay together in their bachelor pads to go hunter-gathering and also ... to go sniffing out for more pods of girls. Rrnnnggh! Just like human boys!

Well, Google shareholders can rest easy. Simon figured out that despite the massive diamond ring he gave her, Schmidt wasn't serious about promises he made Simon about splitting with Wendy. (According to a Simon confidante, Schmidt claimed he was "legally separated" from his wife. Can anyone confirm that?) "When he's with Wendy, he's completely with her," says an insider. And when he's not with her, he's with someone like Kate Bohner. Impressive that he manages to have so much free time while ostensibly running Google.

• Valleywag Quiz: Googler or Muppet? Part one.
  
• Valleywag Quiz: Googler or Muppet? Part two.
  
• Valleywag Quiz: Googler or Muppet? Part three.
  

Missed the first three parts?

• Valleywag Quiz: Googler or Muppet? Part one
• Valleywag Quiz: Googler or Muppet? Part two
• Valleywag Quiz: Googler or Muppet? Part three

A divorce would put part of Schmidt's multibillion-dollar Google stake on the market, potentially depressing the share price. And a recent study has found a strong correlation between the purchase of an expensive house by the CEO and a drop in his company's shares. Schmidt likes to laugh off his affairs, telling confidants, "What can I say? I just like the ladies." (We note the use of the plural, especially since Schmidt appears to have a habit of two-timing.)

It's time for Google's board, however, to tell Schmidt that his love life is no laughing matter. At best, it's an unneeded distraction as Google faces renewed attacks from rivals and growing unrest from partners. At worst, it's a lapse of personal ethics — especially his installing Simon as a Google consultant — that sets a corrupting tone for a company that pretends to instruct employees not to be "evil."

What would be the non-evil thing to do here? Perhaps Schmidt's marriage is on the rocks; perhaps he's sincere in his intention to make an honest woman out of the former Duchess of West Chelsea. If so, he should get on with matters, and disclose the disposition of his personal fortune in Google stock to shareholders. Given the recent findings on CEOs tanking their companies' stocks after buying expensive houses, perhaps he should disclose his real-estate plans, as well. (If he does intend to marry Simon, perhaps the pre-nup ought to be thrown into the SEC filing, while he's at it.)

But we suspect Schmidt doesn't want to disclose any of this. Not because he's worried about privacy — but because his intentions with respect to the "ladies" in his life are, well, evil. A legal disclosure would require some finality. And, from all appearances, it seems like Schmidt prefers his affairs unsettled.

When Google went public, it set up a two-class system of shares, ensuring that Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, not Wall Street, would rule the company. Intended to shield the company from short-term pressures to goose earnings at the expense of long-term growth, this structure has encouraged a tendency to insular thinking that, in turn, has lead to arrogance. Or, to use a fine Greek word, hubris.

Hubris is what leads Schmidt to think he can pad Google's payroll with a girlfriend's consulting fees. Hubris is what leads sales chief Tim Armstrong to think he can run a sideline business, Associated Content, which is designed to profit from Google's advertisers in unseemly ways. Hubris is what leads Brin to loan his wife, Anne Wojcicki, $2.6 million for her biotech startup, 23andMe — and then turn around and have Google repay his loan and more with a $3.9 million investment in her company.

The costs of these behaviors, of course, amount to pocket change compared to Google's immense profits. But the precedents they set, the carelessness they encourage, the hypocrisy they foster, could have implications down the road. When Google shares are going up, investors are unlikely to complain that Google management is running the company like a feudal kingdom. But when things take an inevitable turn for the worse, they'll be under the microscope.

In the meantime, such corruption will leave an indelible mark on the behaviors and attitudes of Google employees. If it's okay for the boss to cheat the company, they'll reason, why can't I? And before you know it, "Don't be evil" will be replaced as a slogan with "Get away with whatever you can."

A recent report by Penn State researchers suggests that narcissism among CEOs makes a company's stock more volatile. May we suggest Eric Schmidt as an excellent subject for a follow-up study?

Watch out, though, Google PR. You think by inviting people from "consumer-focused" women's magazines, you're going to avoid hard tech questions and be able to give them the cutesy party line about the greatness of Google? It's not going to work that way. You're just opening yourself up to questions about Eric Schmidt's gal pal Marcy Simon. These magazines don't know much about tech, but they sure do love a good scandal.