Another Reason We Cannot Afford to Elect John McCain
Lindsay Beyerstein:
McCain's senior foreign policy advisor tied to global petro-influence peddling: John McCain's senior foreign policy adviser [Randy Scheunemann] is a close business associate of Stephen Payne, the lobbyist caught on tape offering access to top administration officials in exchange for donations to the Bush Library.... Scheunemann is listed as a member of Worldwide Strategic Energy's executive team in a pre-prospectus... circulated to prospective investors in 2007.... Payne is the president and CEO of WSE....
The document explains WSE's business model. The company is seeking oil and gas leases in "politically complicated" and "often misunderstood" countries.
Geopolitical risks have often caused the hydrocarbon development opportunities in these regions to be overlooked or underdeveloped.... WSE will be able to capitalize financially by continuing to offer geopolitical and business development assistance to a host government while acquiring leases and lease options. The lease-holding governments will issue the leases and lease options to WSE based on our significant knowledge of both the energy and political worlds...
Scheunemann lobbied for the Caspian Alliance as late as 2006, according to public records. Scheunemann himself was an agent of Georgia until 2006 and his firm, Orion Strategies, still represents Georgia, according to public records.... Here's what the brochure has to say about Randy Scheunemann's influence-peddling mojo:
Scheunemann has developed a very close relationship with President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili and many senior Georgian officials.... Randy Scheunemann was a key player in the U.S. involvement in the Iraq war through his role as the President of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq where he coordinated the White House’s “Outside the Government” public relations campaign on Iraq while administering relationships with key Iraqi leaders in exile. Randy’s work with the then-exiled Iraqis developed close relationships with many elements of the elected Iraqi leadership...
The brochure features a photo of Stephen Payne, Ahmed Chalabi, and Randy Scheunemann...
