McCain's Murderers Row

A new website (firethelobbyists.com) has been created by the pro-campaign finance reform organization Campaign Money Watch, to convince Senator McCain to fire three lobbyists in the top levels of his organization that have lobbied for ruthless dictators. You may recall that over the past two days, two McCain aides have resigned because of their willingness to do public relations work for the Burmese Junta.

Ahh, working for the public good. It must feel so refreshing.

Of course, turn over any stone in The McCain Campaign, and one can only guess what might come crawling out. It turns out that they have even more friends in low places. I contacted David Donnelly, Director of Campaign Money Watch, for a comment. He explained what his group is trying to accomplish:

John McCain ought to immediately fire three lobbyists -- Charlie Black, Tom Loeffler, and Peter Madigan -- whose lobbying for brutal dictators and foreign governments is every bit as bad as the two lobbyists who left his campaign over the weekend. Frankly, McCain's campaign is turning out to be an effort of, by, and for these types of Washington influence peddlers. His credentials as a reformer are gone.

Pretty strong words. Yet, if you read what this triad of McCain lobbyists have been up to, perhaps not strong enough. It ain't pretty:

Charlie Black, McCain's senior counsel and spokesman, began his lobbying career by representing numerous dictators and repressive regimes

Black's firm represented the governor of Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos. According to a 1985 report, the firm Black, Manafort & Stone earned $950,000 plus expenses for its work to provide "advice and assistance on matters relating to the media, public relations and public affairs interests."1

Black's firm lobbied on behalf of Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire, earning $1 million a year for his efforts.2

Black's firm lobbied on behalf of Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.3

Black's firm represented Nigerian dictator Ibrahim Babangida, earning at least $1 million for his efforts.4

Black's firm has represented Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich state "best known for the outlandish brutality of its rulers."5

Black represented Angolan rebel and "classical terrorist" Jonas Savimbi, a job that earned him $600,000.6 "We have to call him Africa's classical terrorist," Makau Mutua, a professor of law and Africa specialist told the New York Times. "In the history of the continent, I think he's unique because of the degree of suffering he caused without showing any remorse."7

In recent years his client list has also included the Iraqi National Congress8, Friends of Blackwater9, and the China National Off-Shore Oil Corp.10

Since 2005, BKSH has received more than $700,000 in fees from foreign entities.11

Thomas Loeffler, co-chairman of McCain's campaign, has represented the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia paid the Loeffler Group "a whopping $7.9 million from December 1, 2005, though November 2006 -- the largest fee collected from a foreign government by any lobbying firm in 2006," according to National Journal.12 The Washington Times reported that "Mr. Loeffler's firm has received more than $10 million since 2006 from the Saudi Embassy and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."13 Much of this work was centered on gaining admission for the Kingdom to the World Trade Organization.14

Since 2005, according to the Washington Times, "the Loeffler Group reported more than $11 million in fees from foreign lobbying clients."15

Peter Madigan, a leading McCain fundraiser, lobbies on behalf of the king of Dubai

Madigan has earned upwards of $800,000 to improve the United Arab Emirates' reputation in the face of a class action lawsuit over the enslavement of boy camel jockeys.16

You may also remember a story we broke at Cliff Schecter's Campaign Silo at Firedoglake on Charlie Black the other day--via John Gorenfeld's new book Bad Moon Rising--regarding his involvement in setting up an anti-Christian ceremony for the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, a man who is not only a felon but in league with Kim Jong-Il of North Korea.

Pleasant company to be sure. And it is only the tip of the iceberg. In The Real McCain, I have two chapters outlining McCain's sordid associations with all manner of miscreants that make Jeremiah Wright look like a Red Cross worker.

Comments

[RRonin]

And, speaking of lobbyists, just where IS Vicki Isenman?

[JFB]

The first instance of an immoral foreign government employing American companies to lobby the US government in their interest was Belgium: as an attempt to counter the growing international concern for King Leopold"s despotic and murderous rule over the Congo. The Belgian money poured into their government lobbying and public relations campaign was so successful that this opened the flood gates for self serving foreign governments to hire US companies to lobby our government. With the huge amount of government and corporate cash given out as handouts, the corrupting influence of this threatens the very sovereignty of our nation.

It should be illegal for private US companies to be employed by foreign governments and foreign companies to lobby any branch of our government.

While the rights of concerned individuals, special interest groups, and even corporations should certainly include the ability to lobby their elected representatives (freedom of speech), it should be strictly illegal for any money, gifts, or promissory reward to be offered or provided (bribery).

[popecorvo]

The looters of the national treasury and their enablers have the most perfect mark in grifter history. To wit, the American Public.

Hey, look over there, those poor folk wanna take all your money!

Oh, the endless wars and slaughters around the world, why pay 'em no nevermind! That's only Freedom and Justice and Democracy in action!

Now about those permenant tax cuts.......and capital gains...and government hand outs...er...contracts....

[PioneerKing]

CLIFF:

Dude, you have not even scratched the surface. Chechout McCain's Iranian connections and some of the Mrs.' share holdings and don't forget to look at who's given money to McCain's foundations.

Happy sleuthing!

Oh, and as far as character what type of parent throws their adopted brown skinned daughter under the bus and never acknowledges her in an effort to court the right wing "agents of intolerence?"
What a paragon of virtue, McCain's a real stand up kind of fellow. NOT!

[EngineerBill]

You know it is funny. Bush 1 and 2 have so many connections to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia selling us oil at the bargain price of $126 a barrel. Now, thanks to Tom Loeffler, the Saudis won't have to worry about losing their influence if McCain becomes president. And the right wing nut jobs are obsessing about Barack Obama's middle name! Can you believe it?

[ofbbg]

And that $10 million the Saudis "donated" to the Clinton Library. Pure altruism, I'm sure.

[Meatball1]

ofbbg,

See how they ingore you when you make a good point. Kind of like you don't exiist? It's just there way.

Your brains aren't rotted enough for the Zombies to come after. Now if you said, something like:

"Memorial Day is comming up! Too many Americans think of Memorial Day as just another day off of work. This is sad. So many brave men and women have fought and died for our Great Nation's freedom and still are. We owe it to them to keep them in our hearts! Please write a "Memorial Day Tribute" to our fallen heros at http://www.djgoski.com

You would get hundreds of hate messages on your website like I have and not one single "Memorial Day Tribute". (At least not from here)

They will post nasty replies on this blog though. (Or at least they usuallly do)

[DickTater]

Thanks Cliff.

Always nice to see what happens when good hard working american's tax money is mixed with a healthy dollop of special-interest-dictator money.

These people are basically traitors. And the HugeCoCorp. way of doing things in america has hastened this change and fostered almost EVERY amoral rip-off-the-american-treasury scheme imaginable.

These people should be dragged thru the streets for what they do. Gleefully making money doing un-american (anti-american) things and just as gleefully calling everyone else a traitor and flip-flopper and communist etc.

[ShawnMichel]

A-frickin'-men to this.

[Maanu]

wow, put it on countdown!!

[wiseapple]

International communications should be done through the UN. If it is in their national interest, world leaders can present their cases to ambassadors of other nations, and it should be a part of the UN record. Our country's elected representatives could have access to these records/ discussions in order to determine the level of aid they might give to another country, but they should not be receiving direct bribe money from influence peddlers.

[lvdragonlady]

Lobbyists should be outlawed, period. NO MORE lobbyists.
The constitution gives the people the right to have a representative talk to Congress, as a VOICE of the people(Americans). This is an American right NOT anyone's right. It does not state the other countries/governments can have someone represent them before Congress. This has gotten out of control, because of the 'greed' factor.
With instance everything now days, WHY does we need lobbyists????

[ICanHasDemocracy]

Maybe not some much outlawed as heavily restricted/legislated. No velvet rope status, same petition process as joe citizen. Stuff the corporate interests- they can suck it up or flip burgers.

[popecorvo]

Neverending chatter about these two would be on every "liberal" media outlet for days (weeks?) had they been part of Obama's staff.

[Donkslayer]

At least McCain is getting rid of them before they go on trial (Ayers) or get latched on to by the media (Wright).

[in4success]

yeah -- good for him.

hey LOOK! a glittery thing!

[Canaris]

Ayers isn't going on trial for anything. His legal difficulties were settled in 1981, by my math 27 years ago, when all charges against him were dismissed due to prosecutorial misconduct.

Reading is fundamental.

[ICanHasDemocracy]

Doesn't matter, it's ok to broker with dictators and oppressors of human rights so long as the bottom line is fat and you don't have to see them outside your ivory towers, which are monitored 24/7 on cc and armed Blackwater guards skulk about your palatial mansion in Homesteaded Fla or Texas.

PR flacks are just whores of the greenbacked pimp.

[JulieSA]

Correct that he won't be going on trial. He freely admits having set the bombs, and he publicly regrets that he didn't set more, but he won't serve any time.

[holyhandgrenaid]

Ayers? he has nothing to do with Obama's campaign, and certainly not going on tria., I think, maybe you mean Rezko, but even then, its a load of crap

[doyourownresearch]

Ayers? C'mon - ken lay lived in my neighborhood - does that make me guilty too? I suppose if issues like Ayers are your primary concern, then you deserve presidents like bush and mcsame.

[TXfemmom]

Cliff, Cliff, you silly boy. You and the public should understand by now that the number one requirement to be a Republican, and especially one who serves on re-election committes and in powers of authority and decision making, is that one must be CORRUPT. One must be willing to do, say, or assist in furthering the goals and needs of any dictator, corrupt government, anti-American pro- make-money-any-in-any-manner-available business, or nasty person, to MAKE MONEY.

With them, it is SHOW ME THE MONEY and then I am on your side.

McCain get rid of these outstanding MONEY types? That would be down right against Republican standards.

[gypsy508]

Well. While all agreed. Fair is fair. How about Mark Penn too? His firm did PR work for Union Carbide whose CEO I believe is still wanted for trial for mass murder in India.

[in4success]

what do you expect? clinton is a lieberman-esque, neo-con mole. the saudis built bill's presidential library for christ's sake.

[AmbroseChapel]

Let the information flow.

[in4success]

john hagees' armageddonites over at CUFI believe that we must go to war with iran in order to expedite the second coming of christ and the "rapture" and all jews will have to accept jesus christ as their savior and messiah or endure: "THE MOTHER OF ALL HOLOCAUSTS." although judaism inherently disbelieves such nonsense the zionists embrace these pro-israel christians -- joe lieberman even compares the pudgy little gluttonous sinner hagee to moses and calls him a: "EESH ELO KIM" which is hebrew for "MAN OF GOD." these armageddonite whackos are VIPs at the AIPAC conferences, benjamin netanyahu speaks at the CUFI conferences and john mccain solicited hagee's endorsement for his presidential bid.

every american should watch these vids to get a grip on how dangerously twisted these cultist freaks are and and what torrid and shameful pandering is bestowed upon them by some of our worlds most powerful leaders and dignitaries: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03072008/watch.html and: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/rapture-ready-the-unauth_b_57826.html

please take the time to inform yourselves . . . this is our path to victory in 2008. Spread the link and bring awareness to this sick, twisted, horrific anti-American fascist ideology and agenda.

We do not need these people controlling the most powerful position in the free world -- it would be to our certain peril as a free nation.

[UVRayburn]

You said it, in4. I am so sick of this endtimer, godless trash Hagee and his minions. These Texas cultists are more dangerous than 10,000 FLDS rape farms. If you watch the videos, you may throw up in your mouth a little because the truth of Hagee and his goons would sicken any real American.