Clinton aides had hand in Dubai deal

[zuni_rocket]

How about this story for a good read!

Clinton aides had hand in Dubai deal Clinton advisers' outside lobbying work for firm to take over defense plants accents their awkward position BY GLENN THRUSH Newsday Washington Bureau

September 14, 2006


WASHINGTON -- In the spring, when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was denouncing the Dubai Ports World deal, a consulting firm run by her top advisers was quietly lobbying for a Dubai takeover of two U.S. defense plants, Newsday has learned.

The Glover Park Group, whose principals include Clinton insiders Howard Wolfson, Joe Lockhart and Gigi Georges, was paid about $100,000 to help the government-owned Dubai International Capital Corp. in its acquisition of the British engineering firm Doncasters Group Ltd.

The four-month lobbying effort apparently didn't include any contact with Clinton's office. "They [Glover Park] didn't have contact with us on either" of the Dubai deals, said Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines.

But it underscores the awkwardness of Clinton's political kitchen cabinet being housed inside a firm that features one of Washington's most aggressive and fast-growing lobbying operations.

Clinton and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who helped to sink the takeover of port operations by a Dubai company, supported the Doncasters acquisition, saying it didn't pose nearly as significant a security threat.

Glover Park's contract with Dubai was channeled through the Los Angeles law office of Raj Tanden, the brother of longtime Hillary Clinton policy adviser Neera Tanden, according to people familiar with the situation.

Raj Tanden, who represented the emirate's royal family in its 2005 acquisition of $1 billion in U.S. real estate holdings, declined to comment. His sister didn't return a message left at her office yesterday.

Neera Tanden served as a congressional liaison for Bill Clinton before moving on to become a key Hillary Clinton campaign aide and the senator's legislative director.

The Doncasters takeover was much less controversial than the ports deal, mainly because Dubai officials submitted to a full review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The Bush administration infuriated Congress by forgoing a review for the ports takeover, provoking a powerful bipartisan backlash that doomed the deal.

Doncasters, which makes tank and aircraft turbines in its Connecticut and Georgia plants, was approved by the government foreign investment committee in May. Some critics, including Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.), argued that Mideast officials shouldn't be allowed to control factories used by defense contractors.

Considering the firestorm that surrounded the Dubai Ports World proposal, it's surprising that the controversy-allergic Clinton team agreed to lobby for Dubai at all.

The contract was signed April 13, only a month after the ports deal went down in flames over concerns the emirate was a breeding ground for some of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

It also came on the heels of columnist Robert Novak's report that Bill Clinton unsuccessfully urged Dubai officials to hire Glover partner Lockhart as their spokesman. A Clinton spokesman didn't deny the account.

Glover Park's lobbying team, led by former Clinton White House staffer Joel Johnson, met with Schumer's staff, House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-Seaford) and Senate Democrats, including Carl Levin of Michigan.

Johnson said his goal was to assure skeptical legislators that Doncasters was no reprise of the ports debacle.

"We wanted to ... respond to any concern in order to assure members that this was consistent with our national security interests," he said.

Who was involved

The Glover Park Group - known as the "White House in Exile" - was founded five years ago by a group of top advisers to Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, including former White House communications director Joe Lockhart and key Hillary Clinton advisers Gigi Georges and Howard Wolfson, who don't engage in lobbying but are apprised of the firm's lobbying efforts.

Staff who lobbied on behalf of Dubai:

Joel Johnson: former senior adviser for policy and communications, Clinton White House.

Susan Brophy: former deputy director of legislative affairs, Clinton White House. Married to Gerald McGowan, Clinton's ambassador to Portugal.

Brett O'Brien: foreign policy adviser to former Senate Democratic Majority Leader George Mitchell.

- U.S. Senate lobbying reports/Glover Park Group Web site









Jim Bishop

American by Birth,Southern by the Grace of God !



"RED HOT MOMMA" HRC

[SuperScout]

Nothing surprises me, coming from the Most Duplicitous Couple in America, the Clintons. And looking at that photograph, I'm convinced that she truly is the Poster Girl for Coyote Ugly.

[reconeil]

NICE PICTURE!!!!!!!!!

Was picture currently taken after this latest typically
Clintonesque type secrets exposing and/or MORE truths slipping out?

Or, is same just an old portrait dating back to The White House
Carefree Fun & Games of: "The Monica Times XXXXXXX???"?

Always wondered how many times Monica and
"The Loverboy-In-Chief",...0N THE JOB enjoyed each other?
Anyone have a tally of such apparently not even considered:
"Misdemeanors" and/or in Old English: "MisdemeanOUrs",
and as once Constitutionally penned?

Regardless, Thanks for Good Info also.

Neil