 2008
Election
 Georgia
|
 Randy
Scheunemann
RANDY SCHEUNEMANN News:
20080813
 John
McCain - Randy
Scheunemann -  Money
-  Politics
- Georgia
-  Russia
-  Military
-  Arizona
-  US
- 2008
Election
"While
Aide Advised McCain, His Firm Lobbied for Georgia:
Campaign Dismisses Timing of Phone Call, Contract." ... "[2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's
top foreign policy adviser prepped his boss for an April 17 phone call
with the president of Georgia and then helped the presumptive Republican
presidential nominee prepare a strong statement of support for the fledgling
republic." ... "The day of the call, a lobbying firm partly owned by the
adviser, Randy Scheunemann, signed a $200,000 contract to continue providing
strategic advice to the Georgian government in Washington." ... "The McCain
campaign said Georgia's lobbying contract with Orion Strategies had no
bearing on the candidate's decision to speak with President Mikheil Saakashvili
and did not influence his statement. "The Embassy of Georgia requested
the call," said campaign spokesman Brian Rogers." ... "But ethics experts
have raised concerns about former lobbyists for foreign governments providing
advice to presidential candidates about those same countries. "The question
is, who is the client? Is the adviser loyal to income from a foreign client,
or is he loyal to the candidate he is working for now?" said James Thurber,
a lobbying expert at American University. "It's dangerous if you're getting
advice from people who are very close to countries on one side or another
of a conflict."" ... "For months while McCain's presidential campaign was
gearing up, Scheunemann held dual roles, advising the candidate on foreign
policy while working as Georgia's lobbyist. Between Jan. 1, 2007, and May
15, 2008, the campaign paid Scheunemann nearly $70,000 to provide foreign
policy advice. During the same period, the government of Georgia paid his
firm $290,000 in lobbying fees." ... "Since 2004, Orion has collected $800,000
from the government of Georgia." -By Matthew Mosk
and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum with contributions by Alice Crites
-WashingtonPost
John
McCain - Randy
Scheunemann - Politics
- Georgia
- Russia
-  Taiwan
-  Macedonia
-  Romania
-  Latvia
- US
-  Law
- 2008
Election
"McCain
adviser got money from Georgia." ... "[2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain's chief foreign policy adviser
and his business partner lobbied the senator or his staff on 49 occasions
in a 3 1/2-year span while being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars
by the government of the former Soviet republic of Georgia." ... "The payments
raise ethical questions about the intersection of Randy Scheunemann's personal
financial interests and his advice to the Republican presidential candidate
who is seizing on Russian aggression in Georgia as a campaign issue." ...
""Scheunemann's work as a lobbyist poses valid questions about McCain's
judgment in choosing someone who — and whose firm — are paid to promote
the interests of other nations," said New York University law professor
Stephen Gillers. "So one must ask whether McCain is getting disinterested
advice, at least when the issues concern those nations."" ... ""If McCain
wants advice from someone whose private interests as a once and future
lobbyist may affect the objectivity of the advice, that's his choice to
make."" ... "Scheunemann's firm lobbied McCain's office on four bills and
resolutions regarding Georgia, with McCain as a co-sponsor or supporter
of all of them." ... "In addition to the 49 contacts with McCain or his
staff regarding Georgia, Scheunemann's firm has lobbied the senator or
his aides on at least 47 occasions since 2001 on behalf of the governments
of Taiwan and Macedonia, which each paid Scheunemann and his partner Mike
Mitchell over half a million dollars; Romania, which paid over $400,000;
and Latvia, which paid nearly $250,000." -By Pete
Yost -AP via
-Yahoo
20080523
-
John
McCain -
 Randy
Scheunemann -  Charlie
Black - Money
- Politics
-  Foreign
- Russia
- Macedonia
- Republic
of Georgia -  Zaire
is the Democratic Republic of the Congo - Military
-  Food
-  Indiana
- Arizona
- US
- 2008
Election - Law
- "Senior
Aide's Lobbying Efforts Highlight Challenge for McCain."
... "For a decade, [lobbyist] Randy Scheunemann has been a campaign staffer
to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain, an ideological
ally in the fight to contain Russian power -- and a lobbyist seeking the
Arizona senator's support for former Soviet states." ... "The lobbying
group Mr. Scheunemann founded in 2001, Orion Strategies LLC [Limited Liability
Company], has earned $2.6 million from clients for whom Mr. Scheunemann
directly lobbied [Arizona Senator] Sen. McCain and his staff, Justice Department
records show." ... "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 [the Republic
of] 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." ... "Charlie Black, a McCain campaign senior adviser, has represented
foreign leaders accused of corruption and human-rights abuses, such as
Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire [now the Democratic Republic of the Congo]. He
ended his relationship with BKSH & Associates Worldwide this year.
Outside advisers and fund-raisers for the campaign include Wayne Berman,
a registered lobbyist for an Indiana food-packaging company that sells
to the Department of Defense." -By Mary Jacoby
-WSJ.com
20080522
-
John
McCain - Randy
Scheunemann - Money
- Politics
- Foreign
- Republic
of Georgia - Latvia
- Macedonia
- Romania
-
 Ky
- Arizona
- US
- 2008
Election - "Former
Outside NRA Lobbyist Gives A Boost To McCain." ...
"When he went to woo the National Rifle Association convention in Louisville,
Ky. [Kentucky], on Friday, it did not hurt that presumptive Republican
presidential nominee, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate
and Senator] Sen. John McCain of Arizona, was accompanied by a former
outside NRA [National Rifle Association] lobbyist turned campaign adviser,
Randy
Scheunemann." ... "Officially the top foreign policy and national security
adviser to McCain’s campaign, Scheunemann told National Journal in March
he has weighed in with advice on Second Amendment and firearms issues.
He said he had stopped lobbying for all his clients early this year, and
his lobbying registration forms show that the NRA work ended at the end
of 2007." ... "But during that year while he was helping the [McCain] campaign,
Scheunemann & Associates, one of two boutique firms he runs, received
$40,000 in fees from the NRA. The NRA, one of his oldest clients, paid
him the same amount for several prior years. Scheunemann, who started working
for the campaign as a volunteer in early 2007, did not return four calls
seeking comment for this story." ... "According to one NRA lobbyist who
was at the convention, Scheunemann arrived and departed with McCain. Scheunemann
spent most of his time at the event backstage -- where McCain had a brief
meeting with NRA leaders, according to a lobbyist." ... "Scheunemann’s
other lobbying firm, Orion Strategies, has worked for several foreign governments,
including [the Republic of] Georgia, Latvia, Macedonia and Romania, who
have joined or are seeking to join NATO." -By Peter
Stone -NationalJournal
20080520
-
John
McCain - Randy
Scheunemann - Money
- Politics
- Foreign
- Macedonia
- Republic
of Georgia - Taiwan
- Arizona
- US
- 2008
Election - Law
- "McCain
adviser's work as lobbyist comes to light." ... "[2008
Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain's top foreign policy
adviser lobbied the Arizona senator's staff on behalf of the republic of
Georgia while he was working for the campaign, public records show." ...
"Randy Scheunemann, founder of Orion Strategies, represented the governments
of Macedonia, Georgia and Taiwan between 2003 and March 1, according to
the firm's filings with the Justice Department. In its latest semiannual
report, the firm disclosed that Scheunemann had a phone conversation in
November about Georgia with Richard Fontaine, an aide in McCain's Senate
office." ... "Orion Strategies earned $540,000 from its foreign clients
over the year ending on [December] Dec. 1, reports show. Scheunemann also
received $56,250 last year from March to July from McCain, according to
campaign finance records." ... "The campaign consulting fees ended at a
time when McCain was under financial pressure to cut costs, but Scheunemann
remained the campaign's top foreign policy adviser. He represented McCain
throughout last fall — including an appearance at a Republican Jewish Coalition
event during the same week he lobbied McCain's Senate office." ... "Georgia
paid Orion Strategies $240,000 in the year ending Dec. 1, reports show."
-By Matt Kelley -USATODAY
|
20080530
John
McCain - Randy
Scheunemann - Political
- Semantics
-  People
-  Accounting
- US
-  Iraq
- Military
-  Terrorism
- 2008
Election - "McCain,
the Surge, and 'verb tenses'." ... "[2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain got ahead of events this
week in claiming that the United States military has gone down to "pre-surge
levels" in Iraq. That will not happen until later this year, even by the
most optimistic scenario. He is also wrong about the city of Mosul [Iraq]
being "quiet", unless you exclude car bombs and other mayhem. His advisers
attempted to spin his remarks as a simple matter of "verb tense." But there
is a big difference between "Mission Accomplished" and "We expect the mission
to be accomplished soon."" ... "The Facts:"
... "The McCain campaign organized a rapid-response conference call with
reporters in an attempt to limit the fallout from the senator's erroneous
claim that "we have drawn down to pre-surge levels" in Iraq. The Obama
folks pointed out that there are at present around 155,000 troops in Iraq,
compared to a January
2007 force level of 128,569. The Pentagon is planning
to get down to 140,000 by the end of July." ... "In a conference call
with reporters, McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann said the
issue was a "question of semantics," and that McCain would have been right
if he had said that the Pentagon had "taken a decision" to draw down the
troops or was in the process of drawing them down." ... "But verb tenses
matter, particularly in the case of Iraq, where it is very difficult to
predict what is going to happen next week, let alone next month. By the
Scheunemann standard of linguistic analysis, there was absolutely nothing
wrong with the Bush administration's claim of "Mission Accomplished" back
in May 2003. As we now know, a few things happened after that date to make
the claim somewhat premature." ... "Taking a decision to do something and
actually implementing it are two very different matters. To claim the contrary
reminds me of the motto from the Ministry of Information in George Orwell's
1984: "He who controls the past controls the future; and he who controls
the present controls the past."" ... "Similarly Orwellian is McCain's claim
that all is "quiet" in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul, despite two car
bomb attacks yesterday in the Mosul area that killed at least 20 people.
News reports depict the town as the "last
urban bastion of al-Qaeda" in Iraq. In the conference call, Scheunemann
acknowledged that al Qaeda was still active in the area." [The Washington
Post gives McCain's accounting numbers three Pinochio's out of a possible
four, calling the statements by Candidate McCain "Significant factual error[s]
and/or obvious contradictions."] -By Michael
Dobbs with contributions by Alice Crites
-WashingtonPost
 WATCH
"John McCain Misrepresents The Facts On The Ground," where he made the
false assertion: "I can tell you that it [the Surge] is succeeding. I can
look you in the eye and tell you it's succeeding. We have drawn down to
pre-surge levels. Basra, Mosul and now Sadr City are quiet." --John McCain,
Town Hall meeting, May 28, 2008.
|
|
Randy Scheunemann News Sources:
Search Randy Scheunemann News:
News
Search
<Randy
Scheunemann>
in:
<AllTheWeb-[News]>
<AltaVista-[News]>
<Google-[News]>
<MSN-[News]>
Specialty search:
<Google's
U.S. "Uncle Sam," .gov and .mil>
Search:
<Randy
Scheunemann News>
in:
<Google>
<MSN>
<Yahoo>
|
