Qatar Lobbyist List: Patton Boggs

In my continuing effort to provide easy access to information about Qatar's US lobbyists, contained below is data culled from Patton Boggs' latest disclosure pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The sizable legal and lobby shop has a long history with Qatar's Emir - when deposing his father in 1995, the Big Fella turned to Patton Boggs for help in freezing dear old dad's bank accounts - and was the first US firm to be licensed to practice law in Qatar, which they do through their Doha office. During this reporting period, the firm also did work for Saudi Arabia, Angola, Cameroon, Ecuador, China, Sri Lanka, India, Cyprus, Malta, Albania, Nigeria, the Korean International Trade Association and the city of Heidelberg, Germany.

Below you'll learn how much Qatar paid Patton Boggs during the first half of 2010 ($358K), a vague description of what services were rendered in return, and a long, long list of all the US politicians who have taken money from Patton Boggs this year.

PAYMENTS:

WORK DESCRIPTION:

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES ON BEHALF OF QATAR:
POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS:

Qatar Pays Barbour, Griffith & Rogers $35,000 Per Month

This blog will make a habit out of posting the disclosures filed by Qatar's lobbyists in the US. Today's focus is Barbour, Griffith & Rogers [BGR], a Republican-leaning firm which has lobbied for Qatar since 2005.

Below are excerpts from their two most recent disclosures required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act, supplemented with some info from the Federal Elections Commission regarding BGR's campaign donations through its political action committee.

As you can see, Qatar paid BGR $35K (plus expenses) a month from June through December '09.

In general, BGR explains that they have "engaged in monitoring and advising on US policymaking processes with regard to the State of Qatar." More specifically, they disclose the following contacts (pasted below) on Qatar's behalf, which center primarily on a failed effort to secure First Lady Michelle Obama involvement in the World Innovation Summit for Education championed by Sheikha Mozah and sponsored by her Qatar Foundation. BGR also contacted Rep. Nick Rahall's (D-WV) office twice to discuss the Qatar Caucus. When compared to BGR's work for some some of its other foreign clients during this period (India, Kurdistan, Poland), this appears to be a fairly light workload.

Here's a list of campaign donations by BGR employees (click to enlarge pages). Not surprisingly, the donations appear to trend Republican, but there is still a nice hunk of Democratic recipients in the mix as well. It is obviously a very long list, which suggests that BGR possesses the kind of political connectivity one would want in a lobbying firm.

Many of the BGR donations obviously went to the BGR political action committee; information about politicians who received support from BGR PAC in 2009 and first half of 2010 can be found here, here, here and here.

Qatar Pays Bud McFarlane $2.3 M for Sudan Services

Former U.S. National Security Advisor Robert "Bud" McFarlane recently filed another disclosure with the Justice Department regarding his work on behalf of the government of Qatar.

Takeaways:

- Qatar has paid McFarlane Associates $2.3 M between May 2009 and March 2010. This seems to match up with a previous disclosure from '09 forecasting an annual budget of $2.473 M.

-The latest disclosure shows $1.064 M in payments between December and March for "advisory services." Specifically:

"We have engaged in regular consultations with representatives from the Government of the State of Qatar to advise on the Darfur Peace Process. We have also periodically met with tribal leaders from throughout Darfur to nurture unity among them and assist in the development of political, economic and security goals to be sought in the Darfur Peace Process."

- While taking in $2.3M from Qatar, McFarlane laid out about $756K in related disbursements. $350K alone went to BKSH Associates, the lobbying firm led by Republican mega-lobbyist Charlie Black and currently owned by public relations behemoth Burson-Marsteller.

-McFarlane discloses 12 personal contacts with the US government officials between December '09 and June '10 (10 emails and 2 phone calls), all of them to Scott Gration, President Obama's special envoy to Sudan. McFarlane's colleague Amanda Jane made 5 phone calls to Gration's deputy, Tim Shortley. Worth noting:

(1) This Washington Post article reports that McFarlane discussed Sudan with National Security Advisor James Jones and Gration sometime during '09; we find no mention of Jones in any of McFarlane's disclosures and no mention of any contact with US government officials prior to December 2009, though it's possible that the meeting occurred before McFarlane entered into a contractt with Qatar contract.

(2) The White House flickr feed shows McFarlane meeting with President Obama and Jones in March 2010. From what we can tell, one is not obligated to report contacts with US officials if their foreign client work is not discussed.

- McFarlane made two political contributions while working for Qatar, both to Republicans with military backgrounds: Mike Pompeo in Kansas ($1388.75) and Lang Sias in Colorado ($500). McFarlane hosted a fundraiser for Pompeo at his Washington DC home, prompting Pompeo's opponent to remark that she was "pretty shocked to learn that the host of this fundraiser was someone who has been working with the governments of Qatar and Sudan."

- The original signed agreement between McFarlane and Qatar was to expire at the end of April; work performed past that date suggests the agreement has been renewed.

Payouts, disbursements and contacts with US government pasted below. All of this data and more can be found on the Justice Department's Foreign Agents Registration Act website.

Payouts:

Disbursements:

USG contacts: