As winter has turned to a democratic spring in the Arab world, the Kingdom of Bahrain has found itself swept... View Article
Continue readingMonitor Group Looking Into FARA Violation
The question of whether a Boston-based consulting group hired by Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi should have registered as a foreign agent... View Article
Continue readingThe Monitor Group, Libya, And Positive Media Mentions
The Monitor Group/Libya controversy continues today with an article in the Boston Globe. The article quotes Libya scholar Dick Vandewalle... View Article
Continue readingUS Consulting Group Working For Libya Did Not Register As Foreign Agent
“Monitor is not a lobbying group.” That was the assertion in one of a series of memos between The Monitor... View Article
Continue readingEgypt’s Washington Lobbying Operation Continues
On February 2, 2011, in the midst of the revolution in Egypt, the PLM Group, filed a disclosure report with... View Article
Continue readingFreshman Hires Former Senator Turned Lobbyist As Chief of Staff
Newly minted Rep. Chip Cravaack has hired former Sen. Rod Grams as his chief of staff. Grams served the state... View Article
Continue readingThe Arab World’s 2010 Lobbying Contacts
The world’s focus has been rightly been focused on the ongoing revolt in Egypt. That has brought some attention to... View Article
Continue readingLobbying Contacts By Egypt’s Washington Lobbyists
As events continue to unfold in the streets of Egypt, here in Washington the government of Egypt has a team... View Article
Continue readingForeign Agents Lobbying Reform
In today’s edition, The New York Times reports on legislation that’s meant to close a loophole lobbyists use to cloak... View Article
Continue readingPaying to not Play: Revisiting the Iron Triangle
In the mercenary culture of Washington, discretion is often the better part of valor. There wasn't much of the former when Mark Penn, who at the time was the senior strategist for the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton and also chief executive of P.R. firm Burson-Marsteller, met with representatives of the government of Colombia. They sought passage of a trade deal that Penn's other boss, Clinton, had opposed on the campaign trail. Penn ended up a former top strategist. Over on Real Time, my colleague Anupama has unearthed a slightly more valorous lobbyist-turned-campaign official. Thomas Loeffler, a former member of Congress, a bundler for President George W. Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns, and now co-chair of the McCain campaign, is a registered foreign agent (that is, a lobbyist) for the government of Saudi Arabia. Before joining McCain's campaign, Loeffler and his firm's employees averaged almost ten contacts a month with U.S. government officials (including Sen. McCain) during which they would promote the interests of the Saudi government. Since Loeffler joined McCain's campaign, those contacts have altogether stopped. But the payments from the Saudi government haven't. The Saudis have paid Loeffler's firm $3.5 million, even though it's had just one contact with federal officials since Loeffler joined McCain's campaign. Running for the White House in 2000, Sen. John McCain described an iron triangle of "special interests, campaign finance and lobbying." And also, "money, lobbyists and legislation." William Safire pointed out the two sets of three corners, but note the one in common: lobbyists. Even those like McCain (and more recently Sen. Barack Obama), who decry their influence seem to end up in the middle of the triangle.
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