Georgia hires Gephardt for lobbying

Georgia has signed former House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt (Mo.) to lobby for it in Washington.

Gephardt Group Government Affairs signed a one-year contract worth more than $430,000 to represent the country in the Caucuses, which sits alongside Russia. The former Democratic leader in the House leads the group.

{mosads}The firm will “provide lobbying and government relations services to Georgia,” according to the contract filed with the Justice Department.
 
Besides Gephardt, his former Chief of Staff Tom O’Donnell; Michael Messmer, another ex-Gephardt aide; Janice O’Connell, a former aide to Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.); and Catherine Goode are working on the account.

Gephardt’s ties to Democrats and the Obama administration could be helpful to the Georgian government, which wants U.S. support for its effort to join NATO and U.S. support against Russia. The two countries fought a short war in 2008.

Georgia will be the Gephardt Group’s second foreign government client. In July 2008, the firm signed a contract with Turkey to help with its lobbying in Washington. So far, they have earned more than $650,000 from Turkey, according to Justice Department records.
 
Georgia has signed up representatives from both parties in Washington.

In November, the country’s national security council signed Orion Strategies to a three-month, $10,000 contract. That firm is run by Randy Scheunemann, a foreign policy adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign.

The agreement is up in January this year but it will be renewed under a year-long agreement soon, according to Mike Goldfarb, senior vice president of communications for the firm.