The contract goes for $250,000 a month, which is considered very high.It's no secret that foreign governments are some of the biggest clients on K Street. A government, whether friendly or dictatorial has a lot to gain by having a lobbying presence on Capitol Hill. Even Syrian President Bashar Assad used D.C. based firm BLJ Worldwide to help his public image in Washington. So then it should come as no surprise that over the weekend the nation of Egypt hired one of Washington's most well known strategic communications firms to represent it to members of Congress.
On Friday the Glover Park Group filed lobbying registration forms to the Department of Justice, stating that they will "provide public diplomacy, strategic communications counsel and government relations services" for Egypt, as well as acting as a communications liaison between Egypt and members of Congress and the White House.
This is Egypt's first new lobbying contract in Washington since its existing contracts were all terminated in early 2012. In the years surrounding the 2011 Arab Spring, Egypt maintained a multifaceted lobbying team here in Washington. They had a contract with Bob Livingston, founder of the Livingston Group, which succeed in stalling "a Senate bill that called on Egypt to curtail human rights abuses." Livingstone also lobbys for Turkey, and has been credited with successfully thwarting Congressional plans to declare what happened in Armenia in 1905 a genocide.
Egypt also has previously help contracts with Toby Moffet of the Moffet Group and Tony Podesta of the Podesta Group. Together, these two joined up with Bob Livingston to form the PLM Group, which counted Egypt as its top client for nearly four years.
Since ending their contracts D.C. lobbying firms, Egypt has had a less than stellar relationship with the United States government. Just this past week the State department announced that they were suspending the planned delivery of military equipment to Egypt, as well as cutting $260 million in aid.
The Glover Park Group, one of the largest strategic communications firms in Washington, has experience representing foreign governments on Capitol Hill. They have held contracts with Turkey, Taiwan, and Dubai in the past, and will likely have a significant impact in improving Egypt's standing with the United States.
The Glover Park group has also represented Colombia and South Korea.
All of this makes sense. However, Israel haters (and shills for the Muslim Brotherhood) need to find a Zionist angle, and they always can.
The bizarre Middle East Monitor site notes:
The Glover Park Group is no stranger to Israel. The group's managing director, Arik Ben-Zvi, is an Israeli citizen who served in the Israeli army and consulted on Israel's elections. In addition, one senior executive previously served as the National Deputy Political Director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, also known as AIPAC, the most powerful arm of the Israel Lobby in the US, while another senior executive served in its legislative department.Al Jazeera picks up the story, without really adding anything (but not giving credit to MEM.)
To put in a little context, Glover Park lists 45 people in its leadership team. The haters found one of them was born in Israel and another used to work for AIPAC. Even though GPG has hired Muslim-majority countries in the past, the conspiracy theorists among the Arabs pretend that Israel is somehow behind this contract in order to embarrass Egypt.