Bush library cash-for-access scandal reveals darker foreign relations truth

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Amy Weiss

The recent Sunday Times investigation into Republican lobbyist Stephen Payne's business deals has offered disturbing insight that goes far beyond the funding of the George W. Bush presidential library.

Payne made news last week for essentially offering access to upper-level Bush Administration officials in exchange for a large donation to Bush's presidential library fund and a larger fee for his international consulting firm, Worldwide Strategic Partners (WSP).

A Times reporter went undercover posing as an associate of a Kazakh politician known as Eric Dos who previously worked with Payne. Dos told Payne he was negotiating on behalf of Askar Akayev, the former president of Kyrgyzstan, who is now in exile but wants to return to politics in Kyrgyzstan and believes a friendly relationship with the U.S. government will help.

The Times has video of Payne suggesting prices and explaining how the deal will work, an unfairly edited account according to Payne, and an example of what he calls "gotcha journalism."

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said of Payne:

I don't think that [President Bush] knows [Payne] all that well, but he has met him before ... But it would be inappropriate to say that he could -- for anybody to say that they could get anything done or any meeting done in exchange for a contribution to the library, or to the party, or anything else.

The second part of what she said is true; it would be inappropriate to say that he could get access for cash. However, to indicate the President may not know him very well is suspicious. Payne was a "Bush pioneer," raising over $100,000 for him in 2004. He also served as George W. Bush's "personal travel aide" during his father's campaign in 1988. He also, as photos indicate, has helped him clear brush at his Crawford ranch and until this story broke and he was forced to resign, Payne served as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Let's assume the White House is telling the truth and never asked Payne to lobby for library donations in exchange for official access. Let's also assume, for a minute, Payne is telling the truth and the Times did not provide a fair picture. Even if those things are true, what we're left with in an incredibly disturbing glimpse into how international politics and business work.

To defend himself, Payne sent a series of e-mails between himself and Dos to Talking Points Memo to illustrate that he made clear a donation to the Bush library was not directly responsible for access. From one of the e-mails that are supposed to exonerate him:

Please remember that we are dealing in the USA and anyone who tells you ‘I can deliver a US Govt action in exchange for specific funds' is someone you will soon visit in prison ... as that would be bribery in this country-you know my firm's track record, you know how we get things done, but I can't engage in conversations of ‘I'll get this exact thing done for that specific amount of money because I'm giving part of the money to bush or cheney' it doesn't work like that here ...

Then after saying the $450,000 out of $700,000 they discussed would be a fee for his firm and explaining "if I choose to make some political decisions it will be my personal decision..." he said:

To be clear for Akayev's sponsors - we will be making some large contributions this fall-the more funding we have, the larger those contributions will be...

These are the kind of transactions Payne believes are perfectly legitimate and typical of the work his firm does. If that's not sketchy enough, go back to how Dos and Payne know each other in the first place. Dos is now in exile from Kazakhstan but was previously an adviser to President Nursultan Nazarbayev's powerful son-in-law, Timur Kulibayev. Kulibayev wanted Vice President Cheney to visit Kazakhstan to "improve the country's international standing." In fall 2005, Dos began discussions with Payne. A Kazakh oil company paid $2 million to WSP and the following spring, Cheney visited.

At the time of Cheney's visit, many wondered why he had such harsh words for Russia earlier in his trip, but only good things to say for Kazakhstan's government. His visit came only months after a political opponent of Nazarbayev's was murdered and members of the government's security agency were charged with involvement.

The following fall, President Bush received Nazarbayev at the White House. The New York Times spoke to a concerned Kazakh activist at the time:

"There are four enemies of human rights: oil, gas, the war on terror and geopolitical considerations," said Yevgeny A. Zhovtis of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, an organization that has received financing from the American Embassy and the National Endowment for Democracy. "And we have all four."

Freedom House characterizes Kazakhstan as "Not Free" and gives it a downward trend arrow due to approval of:

constitutional amendments that removed term limits for President Nursultan Nazarbayev and altered the election criteria and composition of the legislature, in effect reducing opposition representation from one deputy to none.

The Freedom House overview of the democratic struggle in Kazakhstan is:

In 2007, President Nursultan Nazarbayev eliminated the last vestiges of parliamentary independence and humbled potential rivals in his own family. Constitutional amendments passed in May removed term limits for Nazarbayev and ended single-mandate constituencies for lower-house lawmakers, leaving only party-slate seats. Parliamentary elections held under the new rules in August produced a single-party legislature, with deputies from the ruling propresidential Nur Otan party now constitutionally obligated to vote along party lines or face expulsion.

Clearly, Kazakhstan isn't the first country with questionable civil liberties and political rights that the United States has shown favor to; it's especially not the first one with oil. But a $2 million payment from a Kazakh oil company to a man who, as Perino admitted, has done advance work for the White House, reeks of corruption. The fact that it seems entirely commonplace is shocking.

In response to the Sunday Times article, a reader from Azerbaijan said:

Huge thanks to all the people involved in this investigation. This explains well why the "elections" in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan don't get much criticism from the US gov. Hopefully such eye-opening articles would help to get rid of the dictators one day (many Mugabes are here).

For the icing on the cake: an adviser to John McCain, Randy Scheunemann, allegedly has ties to the company that funneled the money from the Kazakh oil company to WSP. The McCain campaign downplayed the connection but it's clear the roots of this kind of "diplomacy" run deeper than just the Bush Administration.

Maybe Payne thinks the Times investigation is unfair. But his account doesn't paint him in a much better light. However legal and legitimate he feels his work is (and government investigations by The Homeland Security Department and the House Oversight Committee will determine the legality) to millions of people such as that Times reader, the blurry fundraiser-lobbyist-"diplomat" spectrum has perpetuated decades of power-monopolizing dictatorships with no democratic end in sight.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

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