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.

Penn repeated the same advice to Clinton, telling her not to worry about being perceived as "warm" or "nice." Gates's image didn't shift until he actually changed from being a hard-driving capitalist to saving the world.

We think Penn's next client should be Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (Hiring the likes of Penn is perhaps the only job Facebook's new flack, the D.C.-connected but tech-clueless Elliot Schrage is qualified for — so get cracking, Elliot!) After Zuckerberg's disastrous interview with Sarah Lacy at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas this March, I was told Lacy's manner — which struck some audience members as overly familiar — was an attempt to make Zuckerberg, who's robotically stiff on stage, seem more human. In person, Zuckerberg's quite engaging; he needs stage training, not an extra dose of "humanity." Penn seems brash enough to tell him as much. Mark, meet Mark — I think you two need each other right now.