April 11, 2008

John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama advisors and bundlers include registered foreign agents

The U.S. Department of Justice administers the Foreign Agents Registration Act (usdoj.gov/criminal/fara; "FARA is a disclosure statute that requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal"), and the WashTimes has cross-checked some of those registered under FARA as foreign agents with bundlers and advisors of the major campaigns.

John McCain:
* "senior adviser Charlie Black, who until recently was the chairman of Washington-based BKSH & Associates, and campaign co-chairman Thomas G. Loeffler, who heads the Loeffler Group in San Antonio [involved with Saudi Arabia], received millions of dollars lobbying the White House, Congress and others as agents of nearly a dozen foreign clients in recent years."

Hillary Clinton:
* "Mark Penn, former top strategist... Mr. Penn is chief executive of Washington-based Burson-Marsteller, which has lobbied for the Pakistan Peoples Party, the Colombian Embassy and the Mexico Tourism Board."

* "the Glover Park Group where top Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson previously worked, received more than $170,000 last year from the Colombian trade bureau and $250,000 from Dubai Aerospace Enterprises Ltd."

* "bundler John Merrigan is registered to lobby foreign governments at DLA Piper [FARA #3712], which during a six-month span last year reported more than $2.8 million in fees from foreign entities. In addition, former New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli, another Clinton bundler, signed off on a $15,000 per-month lobbying deal last year with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, Taiwan's office in the U.S."

Barack Obama:
* "fundraiser William T. Lake and adviser Stanford Ross were registered as a foreign lobbyists in the 1990s, according to Justice Department records."

The article describes some of the interesting work they did and lists a few others, such as McCain bundler and current or former registered foreign agent Rob Allyn. His FARA registration number is 5725.

Posted to Politics at April 11, 2008 01:03 PM