McCain OK with aide's lobbying past

ORLANDO — Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain told USA TODAY on Sunday that he has no problem with his top foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann's past lobbying work.
The fighting between Russia and Georgia has brought renewed attention to Scheunemann and the lobbying firm he founded, Orion Strategies, which received more than $730,000 from Georgia since 2001, records show.

Scheunemann's role as lobbyist and campaign adviser came to light in May, when USA TODAY reported he had contacted McCain's Senate office on Georgia's behalf last year while he was working for the campaign.

Scheunemann in March ended his lobbying work for Orion, which continues to represent Georgia, and formally separated from the firm in May, said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers.

"I'm proud to have supported them," McCain said of Georgia in an interview on the campaign plane. "And I'm so proud that so many of my friends have done so, who also believe in freedom and democracy."

McCain said he found it interesting that Barack Obama's campaign called him "confrontational" with Russia.

Yet "rather than worry about the people of Georgia," McCain said, his Democratic rival "worried about whether someone on my staff had supported Georgia or not."

Democratic groups have criticized Scheunemann's past lobbying work as a conflict of interest.

At Orion Strategies, Scheunemann's foreign clients have included Romania, Latvia, Macedonia and Taiwan.

"The fact that John McCain is proud of the lobbyists running his campaign and doesn't understand the conflict of interest his lobbyist-advisers represent shows that he simply cannot be trusted to bring change to Washington," Damien LaVera, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said Sunday.

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