Still More Lobbyists ...

by hilzoy

TPM cites Roll Call:

"For almost two years former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge failed to register a nearly half-million-dollar lobbying contract that he had with the government of Albania.
Ridge filed a registration statement on behalf of the country earlier this month after being contacted by the Department of Justice. ...

Ridge's registration was spurred by a DOJ inquiry after press accounts surfaced noting Ridge's connection to the country. (...)

FARA prosecutions, or even, as in Ridge's case, contact by the Justice Department to encourage registration, are unusual, ethics lawyers said."

In a subsequent post, Josh Marshall explains why it really is exceptional for the DoJ to contact Ridge.

Unfortunately, it's not at all exceptional to find lobbyists on John McCain's campaign, even though he claims to have purged them -- at least the ones who didn't go resign or go on leave from their lobbying positions. Among the stories I haven't blogged recently: McCain's campaign manager's lobbying firm has been working for Viktor Yanukovich, the Ukrainian politician backed by Russia who was suspected of having poisoned his chief rival for the presidency:

"For instance, a lobbying firm owned by Rick Davis, the McCain campaign manager, has worked in recent years for a Ukraine politician, Viktor Yanukovich. Both Mr. McCain and the Bush administration supported the opponent of Mr. Yanukovich, who had close ties to Vladimir V. Putin, then the president of Russia and now prime minister.

During this time, however, Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, never registered as a lobbyist for Mr. Yanukovich even though Paul Manafort, Mr. Davis’s business partner, had met with the United States ambassador in Kiev on Mr. Yanukovich’s behalf.

In a related development, Mr. McCain may have first become aware of Davis Manafort’s activities in Ukraine as far back as 2005. At that time, a staff member at the National Security Council called Mr. McCain’s Senate office to complain that Mr. Davis’s lobbying firm was undercutting American foreign policy in Ukraine, said a person with direct knowledge of the phone call who spoke on condition of anonymity."

McCain's chief advisor, Charlie Black, lobbied for a Chinese firm with extensive ties to Iran. Moreover:

"One of John McCain's top economic surrogates -- Republican National Committee Victory Fund Chair Carly Fiorina -- was head of Hewlett-Packard at a time when the company was actively working to circumvent export controls established as part of a trade boycott of Iran."

McCain's chief foreign policy advisor was until recently a paid lobbyist for Russia and a number of other eastern European countries (h/t matttbastard):

"John McCain is a saber-rattler when it comes to Russia. (...) But the sound of sabers rattling is music to the ears of Randy Scheunemann, the McCain campaign's senior foreign policy and national security advisor. A long-term confidant of the candidate, Scheunemann also supports a very tough stance toward Russia. Unlike McCain, until very recently he was paid to support that stance. McCain, already under fire for the role of lobbyists in his campaign, is taking his foreign policy advice from someone who was a paid lobbyist for former Soviet Bloc countries that are wary of Russia, and seems to advocate those policies the countries and their former lobbyist want. Notably, McCain supports a quick expansion of NATO, and Scheunemann has already helped two former Soviet satellites gain admission to NATO and has worked on behalf of two others.

Until early this year, Scheunemann was simultaneously working for the McCain campaign and as a lobbyist for a shifting menu of Eastern European and former Soviet Bloc countries with NATO aspirations. Some, including Georgia, have chilly relations with Russia. At various times from 2001 through early this year, Georgia, Latvia, Romania and Macedonia paid Scheunemann and his partner, Mike Mitchell, more than $2 million. Much of Scheunemann's work focused on paving the way into the NATO fold. Two of Scheunemann's clients, Latvia and Romania, were admitted to full NATO member status in 2004, after which they ceased paying him."

There are a lot of former paid foreign agents, registered and otherwise, on the McCain campaign.

Comments

[rea]

Albania? Is Ridge going to trurn out to be connected to the Efraim Diveroli scandal?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/efraim_diveroli/