Insisting that he is a Washington
outsider, Mitt Romney has been captured on tape arguing with a reporter about whether
a Washington lobbyist named Ron Kaufman runs or just advises his campaign
for president. The more important issue is what Kaufman lobbies for.
It turns out that Kaufman’s firm, as well as another Romney adviser,
Vin Weber, have worked to put more American taxpayer dollars into the
coffers of the corrupt United Nations and other international agencies.  

Kaufman’s firm, Dutko Worldwide,
represents and works directly with an organization chaired by Bill Clinton,
the Global Fairness Initiative (GFI), whose board includes AFL-CIO President
John Sweeney and is dedicated to promoting “a more equitable and sustainable
world for all people.” A press release describes
the substantial connections between Dutko and GFI, with a Dutko official
being quoted as saying, “Dutko
Global Advisors is proud to support
the work and mission” of GFI “because its work is fundamentally
about nurturing the virtuous cycle of free and fair trade, the creation
of economic opportunities, and harmonious relations worldwide.” The
group appears to be mostly devoted to pursuing international agreements
or arrangements protecting labor rights and the environment in “fair
trade” deals. This is, of course, a major demand of liberal and union
groups.  

Dutko also says it represented
or has “worked with” various “multilateral organizations,” including
the U.N.’s International Labor Organization and World Health Organization,
and endeavors to “educate” the Congress and others about the “globally
respected” work of the U.N. and its agencies. “Many multi-lateral
organizations receive dues allocations from US government, as well as
funds ear-marked for projects and programs important to public policies
pursued by the US government,” Dutko says. The implication is that Dutko can
keep the taxpayer dollars flowing to such causes.  

But that’s not all. Romney
adviser and lobbyist Vin Weber, a former congressman and member of the
board of the Council on Foreign Relations, worked for an organization
promoting a U.S. taxpayer financial bailout of the United Nations. This
group, the so-called Emergency Coalition for Financial Support of the
U.N, included the pro-world government World Federalist Association,
National Council of Churches, Catholics for a Free Choice, Americans
for Democratic Action, and the United Nations Association.  

The purpose of the Emergency
Coalition for Financial Support of the U.N. was to get the U.S. Congress
to pay a financial “debt” to the world organization. But the “debt”
was phony because the world body never gave the U.S. credit for certain
contributions to U.N. peacekeeping operations that amounted to billions
of dollars above what the U.S. supposedly owed the world body. I wrote
about this issue extensively during the late 1990s. You can read my
Cato Institute report on the subject here.  

Eventually, Senator Jesse Helms,
the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator
Joseph Biden, ranking Democrat on the committee, agreed to payment of
the so-called “debt” in exchange for certain U.N. “reforms,”
such as a prohibition on the world body advocating global taxes on the
American people.   

A representative of the Romney
campaign defended Weber’s work on the issue, saying his purpose was
to work with Helms to make sure the money was paid to the U.N. But most
of the U.N. “reforms” were not carried out and, in making the deal,
Helms himself had noted that the U.S. was not getting credit or reimbursement
for billions of dollars of extra contributions to the world organization.
Indeed, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett had introduced the “U.N. Erroneous Debt
Act” demanding proper credit for past peacekeeping assistance. Most
of the extra assistance had been illegally diverted by the Clinton Administration
from the Defense Department in support of U.N. military activities. 

Weber, who backed Senator John
McCain for president in 2000, was announced as Romney’s “policy chairman”
in January of 2007 and was described as overseeing “all policy development.” 

Romney was one of the last
GOP presidential candidates to come out against the U.N.’s Law of
the Sea Treaty, now pending before the U.S. Senate. He did so through a statement from a spokesman, Kevin Madden, who
said that “Governor Romney has concerns with the Law of the Sea Treaty.
He believes giving unaccountable international institutions more power
is a serious problem.” The Romney statement was considered mild compared
to those of other candidates.  

Weber is chief executive officer
and partner of the lobbying firm, Clark & Weinstock, which says
that it has “represented a blue-chip roster of Fortune 500 Companies
and some of the most influential organizations in the world” but its
website has no details. The section of its website on clients “is under development
and will be completed Fall 2007,” which of course was last year.  

Romney adviser Kaufman, a former
aide to President Reagan, has impressive Republican credentials. He
is a member of the Republican National Committee and still serves as
an adviser to the former President Bush. But his involvement in the
firm’s international operations, known as Dutko Global Advisors, has
put him into direct contact with and representation of prominent Democrats
and their causes.  

By its own admission, the Dutko
Global Advisors represents “sovereign governments,” non-governmental
organizations, and “foreign entities.” Its “experts” are said
to be good at forging “unique relationships with governments and multilateral
institutions through the creation of public private partnerships.”  

One of those foreign entities,
according to published reports, is Citgo, the U.S. subsidiary of the
oil firm run by Venezuela’s anti-American ruler Hugo Chavez.  

Karen A. Tramantano, the “principal”
of Dutko Global Advisers, is listed on the website of the Global Fairness Initiative
as president of the GFI board and a senior adviser to the International
Labor Organization Director General. She was a chief of staff to John
Sweeney, when he ran the Service Employees International Union, and
from 1997 to 2000 was an Assistant to President Clinton.  

Nancy A. Donaldson, one of
several advisors to GFI, is identified as a Vice President with Dutko Worldwide
and someone who worked on “the release of the frozen U.S. payments
to the UN.” This is another reference to the phony U.N. “debt”
issue.  

Sally Painter,
the Treasurer/Secretary of the GFI, is the Managing Director of Dutko
Global Advisors and served as Executive Director of the Business Coalition
for US-China Trade, “where she helped secure passage of Permanent
Normal Trade Relations with China,” her bio states. 

Under the heading of “international
development finance,” Dutko says that it advises corporate clients
on “economic investment and project financing” in other countries
“without tapping their corporate assets or expending significant capital.”
It goes on to say, “Our development finance international team has
a proven track record of providing clients with access to capital and
project financing, both short and long term, that does not risk corporate
assets and with terms that are economical. To achieve these goals, Dutko
identifies resources within international financial institutions that
lower the cost of financing and reduce corporate economic and political
risks.” 

These international financial
institutions are, of course, heavily financed by U.S. taxpayers. They
include the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. 

The “links” page of the GFI website, based on affiliations
through the GFI board of directors, directs people to such organizations
as the Clinton Global Initiative, the Clinton Presidential Center, the
AFL-CIO and the Dutko firm.  

Romney’s confrontation with
Glen Johnson of the Associated Press over lobbyists involved with his
presidential campaign was sparked by Romney’s statement that “I
don’t have lobbyists running my campaign. I don’t have lobbyists
that are tied to my?” Johnson interrupted by citing Kaufman. Romney
countered by suggesting that Kaufman was a minor figure in the campaign,
even though he is seen traveling with the former Massachusetts governor
and has participated in sessions designed to prepare Romney for presidential
debates.  

Kaufman has also appeared on various television
programs on behalf
of Romney, identified as “the senior adviser” to the campaign.

The AP’s Johnson is being
attacked by some conservative bloggers as an obnoxious left-wing journalist.
It would be easy to take a shot at the media under these circumstances.
But real conservatives concerned about policies and issues should not
throw the questions aside. They are legitimate. The credibility of Romney
is just as important as the manners of the press.

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