McCain's Top Foreign Policy Adviser Paid Big $$$ by Georgia

Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report at 2:56 PM on August 13, 2008.

There were a couple of weeks in May that were rather embarrassing for the McCain campaign. The presumptive Republican nominee had developed a reputation as a politician who had little use for high-priced DC lobbyists, but it quickly became obvious that his entire campaign operation was being run by ... high-priced DC lobbyists. In one eight-day stretch, McCain had to fire five lobbyists from key campaign roles because of their lobbying clients.

And that was before Randy Scheunemann was added to the mix. He may very well prove to be the most problematic of them all:

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.

McCain warned Russian leaders Tuesday that their assault in Georgia risks "the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world."

On April 17, a month and a half after Scheunemann stopped working for Georgia, his partner signed a $200,000 agreement with the Georgian government. The deal added to an arrangement that brought in more than $800,000 to the two-man firm from 2004 to mid-2007. For the duration of the campaign, Scheunemann is taking a leave of absence from the firm.

"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," New York University law professor Stephen Gillers told the AP. "So one must ask whether McCain is getting disinterested advice, at least when the issues concern those nations."

This is pretty messy. On April 17, the day that Scheunemann's firm was signing a lucrative deal with the Georgian government, Scheunemann also prepped John McCain for a phone call with the Georgian president and helped McCain with a public statement of support for Georgia.

It's fair to say the line between Scheunemann's lobbying and Scheunemann's role atop McCain's foreign policy shop were more than a little blurred.

Tagged as: campaign, russia, foreign policy, mccain, georgia, randy scheunemann

Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Crooks & Liars, The American Prospect, and the Guardian.