When former Representative Robert L. Livingston left Congress in 1999 amid allegations of marital infidelity, some thought his reputation was irreparably damaged.
But the former appropriations committee chairman lost no time in hanging out a shingle as a lobbyist. In a few years, the Louisiana Republican went from being a $136,000-a-year congressman to the principal of The Livingston Group, a prominent lobby shop pulling in tens of millions of dollars and developing a specialty representing foreign governments including those of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Egypt.
The latest addition to Livingston’s stable of clients is Libya, which signed a $2.4 million contract with the firm last year.
For that outsized sum, Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafia apparently hopes to use Livingston’s influence to help normalize Libya’s relations with the United States at a time that he wants to partner with U.S. oil companies to tap into the country’s substantial oil reserves.
As far back as 2003, Qadhafia renounced his weapons of mass destruction program; and three years later, Libya was taken off the state terror sponsor list.
But at the time it had signed a contract with the Livingston Group, its unpaid claims to the victims of a half dozen terrorist attacks, including the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, had hindered further progress.
Whether the Livingston Group was involved in brokering a final victims’ compensation deal is unknown, but Libya finally completed payments in late October, clearing the last hurdle in restoration of full normalization of diplomatic relations between Washington and Tripoli, and the Treasury began transfers to the Lockerbie families in November.
“Libya is the first country in history to come out and denounce weapons of mass destruction,” Ali S. Aujali, Libya’s ambassador to the United States told the New York Times last year. “We have worked very closely with the United States in recent years to fight terrorism. And now to be treated in this way, I feel like we are back to Square One.”
Qadhafia may have changed his tune, but some might hesitate nonetheless about representing the man Ronald Reagan called “the Mad Dog of the Middle East,” and who was linked to a half dozen terrorist attacks which killed Americans.
Livingston apparently has no such qualms, however.
“We don’t have anything to do with the [terrorism] cases,” Livingston told the Washington Post last June. “We’re working on trying to enhance the relations between Libya and the U.S. But it’s my hope and anticipation that those cases would be settled in the not-too-distant future.”
A look at the documents the firm filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act related to Libya suggests how the Livingston Group is pressing its agenda.
Livingston himself has escorted Ambassador Aujali to a series of meetings with Congressional leaders, buttonholing members of both parties to discuss Iraq-U.S. relations. He also attended the December, 2008 swearing-in of the first U.S. ambassador named to Libya since 1972 - Gene Cretz, who had been deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs.
Another major player has been Lauri Fitz-Pegado, perhaps best known for her role in devising “Citizens for A Free Kuwait,” a public relations strategy that promoted Operation Desert Storm on behalf of the government of Kuwait.
In her work for Libya, Fitz-Pegado has logged repeated discussions with officials from the departments of Defense, Commerce and State, according to the filings.
She also accompanied the chairman of the Qadhafia International Charity and Development Foundation - Qadhafia’s son - to the World Economic Forum in Davos in February, assisting him in “discussions regarding the foundation’s primary interests - human rights, the role of civil society, climate change, education and training.”
For those and other activities, Libya paid the Livingston Group more than $750K in fees since September.
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