No Lobbyists Were Harmed in the Drafting of This Blog Post
Posted by Matt Ortega on May 20, 2008 at 02:45 PM
In the New York Times, there was an interesting read about John McCain's army of lobbyist staffers and their sordid work histories.
- McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis is currently "on leave" from his firm, a firm that took to a form of lobbying that doesn't require registration.
But while Mr. Davis took a leave from Davis Manafort in 2006, the company has developed a specialty in recent years in a type of lobbying for which firms do not have to register — namely, representing the interests abroad of foreign politicians and businessmen.
In recent years, the company’s clients have included the richest man in Ukraine and a former premier of that country whose opponents were supported by Mr. McCain. The Washington Post reported in January that Mr. Davis also set up a meeting in Switzerland in 2006 between Mr. McCain and a Russian businessman, who has been barred from entering this country, apparently because of accusations about past ties to organized crime in Russia. That businessman, Oleg Deripaska, has denied such links.
- Randy Scheunemann, the chief foreign policy adviser, lobbied on behalf of foreign governments for the last seven years.
Over the past several years, Mr. Scheunemann met several times with Mr. McCain to discuss his clients’ interests. He introduced the senator to the foreign ministers of Albania, Croatia and Macedonia as they tried to win admission to NATO, and a representative of Taiwan as it lobbied for free trade, records show. Mr. Scheunemann also accompanied Mr. McCain to Latvia in 2001 and Georgia in 2006.
Mr. Scheunemann was a registered foreign agent until March, when he ended his registrations for several countries. He had joined the McCain campaign several months earlier.
That doesn't sound good... But don't try to ask the McCain campaign about it. They're too busy sticking their fingers in their ears, eyes closed, saying "I can't hear you! La-La-La!"
A campaign spokesman, Tucker Bounds, said he would not comment on questions raised about Mr. Scheunemann or any other campaign advisers.
Oh sweet, sweet transparency.
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