Mr. Joe Barton, a top Republican in the House of Representatives sent a letter to Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt Wednesday, expressing his concerns about privacy aspects of the  $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, a company which places and tracks online ads for clients. Google announced the deal in April saying it was expecting regulators’ approval before the end of the year.

In the letter, the congressional representative blames Google for rebuffing requested meetings at the Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, after it initially invited committee staff to “learn firsthand” about the company’s practices and technology.

"Google officials with whom we spoke deemed the dates inconvenient and the request was denied. Since then, all efforts to reach a mutually agreeable time have been rebuffed, and it begins to seem that no date for a visit is sufficiently convenient to Google. Your warm initial invitation followed by Google's chilly response to a proposed visit by committee counsels is disconcerting," Barton said before shooting off a list of 24 questions he wants Google to answer about how consumer information is stored and used by both Google and DoubleClick.

The letter comes after privacy groups and Google competitors such as Microsoft expressed their disapproval regarding the DoubleClick acquisition, as the deal might give Google too much sway over online ad sales. In addition, his questions come at a time when the Federal Trade Commission is expected to announce a decision on approving Google’s proposed DoubleClick buy sometime this month.

In response, Google's Sr. Manager, Global Communications and Public Affairs Adam Kovacevich said the company was surprised by the letter, as the committee staff announced they want to meet with Google few days before the Thanksgiving holiday when the relevant executives were not available.

When Google proposed a visit after November 28, Mr. Barton representatives said they could not travel to California while the House was in session, Mr. Kovacevich said.

As a response to the letter, Google offered to meet Barton’s staff at Google’s Washington office, which should be convenient for the staffers, as it would save dollars by not paying the cross-country flight of the staffers.

Kovacevich added that the information requested by Barton is already available in the public domain, but Google will certainly respond to this letter.

Mr. Barton is expecting Google’s response by Tuesday.