WASHINGTON — When the government of El Salvador wanted help extending immigration benefits to its citizens in the U.S., it turned to a new lobbying shop set up by Miami lawyer Alberto Cardenas Jr., a star of the Republican fundraising machine.
The lobbyists were confident that "a round of consultations and meetings" with Bush administration officials would get El Salvador what it wanted: an additional 18 months of protection and work permits for Salvadorans living in the U.S.
In less than two weeks, El Salvador got just that.
Foreign governments have played the Washington influence game for years, paying large fees to lobbyists, especially those with connections to the White House. Those connections often have stemmed from past government service, either in elective or appointive positions. But now, the growing cadre of fundraisers in presidential politics are increasingly influential players for countries seeking to improve their access to Washington's corridors of power.
In June, for example, Iraq's Kurdish Democratic Party hired a Washington lobbying firm to help keep it in good standing with the administration. The company -- Barbour, Griffith and Rogers -- promotes its access to the White House in its written appeals for foreign business, saying it knows "decision-makers and the decision-making process."
One of its partners, Larry Griffith, is a top fundraiser for President Bush, as had been the firm's founder, Haley Barbour, now the governor of Mississippi and no longer active with the company.
The trend of foreign countries relying on lobbyists who also serve as political fundraisers troubles government watchdog groups. Issues such as trade and immigration drive U.S. foreign policy, they say, and should not be influenced by those with fundraising links to decision makers.
"One of the things this shows is that foreign governments that used to work country to country now believe they have to function through the Washington influence money system in order to be heard in Washington," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a nonpartisan campaign watchdog group. "And that's an extremely damaging comment on the way influence is bought and sold in Washington these days."
When Cardenas opened an international lobbying firm in Washington, he didn't have to sell his political credentials -- which include state GOP chairman in Florida in 2000 -- or his fundraising prowess on Bush's behalf. The five Latin American and Caribbean governments that signed on with the Tew Cardenas firm knew it already.
