July 27, 2019
FUNDING WAHHABISM:
Ex-Pols Took Your Cash. They Used It to Help the Saudis and the Qataris.: The contributions "add another dimension to the familiar but ever-expanding story of money, influence, and access in Washington," the Campaign Legal Center wrote in its report. (Lachlan Markay, 07.26.19, daily Beast)
In the summer of 2018, congressman-turned-lobbyist Jim Moran was trying to recruit his former colleagues to put pressure on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Moran was doing so on behalf of one of his clients, the government of Qatar. And he had a pot of money, left over from years of donations to his reelection campaigns, that he could steer to his lobbying targets.Throughout June and July, Moran, a "senior legislative advisor" at the firm McDermott Will & Emery, reached out to at least a dozen House and Senate members of both parties as part of the effort. He provided them with suggested text for the letter, which he hoped the legislators would send to the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. urging him to ease travel restrictions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.One of the congressmen Moran pitched was Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL). On June 15, 2018, Moran's assistant emailed Crist's chief of staff with a draft letter they hoped the congressman would send under his name. Moran's staff even followed up with suggested edits.Crist obliged. On June 20, he sent a letter to the Saudi ambassador that lifted huge portions verbatim from Moran's suggested language.A month later, Moran wrote a $1,000 check to Crist's reelection campaign. But the money didn't come from Moran personally. Instead, the former congressman used his campaign committee, which remains active to this day, more than four years after he left the House. It was the first time Moran, either personally or through his campaign committee, had contributed to Crist. Neither Moran nor Crist responded to requests for comment.Moran is one of at least 17 former members of Congress who are registered as U.S. agents of foreign governments and have also kept their campaign committees active since retirement--or converted them, along with their cash reserves, into other types of committees that can disburse funds to political allies. And according to a joint investigation by The Daily Beast, the Campaign Legal Center, and the Center for Responsive Politics, at least nine of those former members have used those committees to donate to the same legislators they've reported lobbying on behalf of their foreign government clients.
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 27, 2019 8:37 AM