McCain aide’s lobbying firm still being paid by foreign governments.»

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http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/23/mccain-aides-lobbying-firm-still-being-paid-by-foreign-governments/


McCain aide’s lobbying firm still being paid by foreign governments.»

The Wall Street Journal reports today that the lobbying firm founded by Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) top foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, is still being paid by the governments of Macedonia and Georgia, despite a letter Scheunemann sent to the Justice Department in March saying he had stopped working for them:


In March, as scrutiny intensified, Mr. Scheunemann, who is the campaign’s top foreign-policy staffer, sent a letter to the Justice Department’s office for foreign-client lobbying registrations saying he had stopped working for clients such as Macedonia and Georgia. However, his company’s contracts with those countries, worth a combined $240,000, appear still to be in effect. A spokeswoman for the Georgian Embassy in Washington said the country’s contract with Orion is active. The Macedonian contract is listed as active in Justice Department records.

Mr. Scheunemann, 48 years old, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

USA Today reported on Wednesday that Schenunemenn had “lobbied the Arizona senator’s staff on behalf of the republic of Georgia while he was working for the campaign.” But the McCain campaign is keeping Schenunemenn aboard, claiming that its new ethics policy is “not retroactive” and therefore does not apply to Scheunemann.

Update: National Journal's Peter Stone reported yesterday that Scheunemann lobbied for the NRA while working for McCain and that he has given McCain "advice on Second Amendment and firearms issues" during the campaign.