United National Movement′s Lobbying Campaign in the USA
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Date
2020
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Abstract
Hiring of American lobbyists has become a regular practice in the Georgian reality. The printed media and the society suspect to find traces of lobbying behind the success gained by the political figures in the West, especially when we speak about the assessment in Georgia of the positive responses from the media and the Congressmen in the USA. Both the presently acting in Georgia governing party and the former one that has already moved to the opposition are launching lobbying activities in the USA.
The study surveyes the lobbying activities carried out by United National Movementის in the USAsince 2012. We suppose that the higher the financial means of a political party, the larger the scope of the lobbying campaign performed by it in the USD. In the course of the study we reviewed the four documents that are uploaded on the American Department of Justice web-page Fara.gov. These four contracts provide the terms and conditions of the agreement between the parties thereto on the lobby services, as well as the list of the tasks to be performed, the term of the service delivery and the sum to be paid. The party United National Movementused to launch quite large scale and successful lobbyist activities during the nine years of its being the authority in Georgia. The lobby companies were paid their remuneration by National Safety Council. After the defeat in the Parliamentary elections of October, 2012 United National Movement has been carrying out its lobby campaign independently; Relevantly, they had to source the financial resources to pay to the lobbyists out of their own budget. Presently they have only two lobby companies hired, out of which they have executed an active contract with one company only: ORION STRATEGIES at this stage. United National Movement had contracts executed with both these American companies when being at the head of the country.
A new contract was concluded with the lobbying comapny Fianna Strategies in
2014. For the period from April first to September of the same year National Movement had to pay the mentioned company USD 42 000. In the same document, the letter written from the company to Mikheil Matchavariani mentions the list of
the services to be ensured by the company for the client. These services are as follows: getting the views, aims and position ofUnited National Movement familiarized with the Congress Members, NGO Representatives and the media; organization of the party member meetings with the American high executive officers. Another contract is concluded in September, 2015 and the sum to be paid till October 28 of the same year constitutes USD 15 000.
The other company with which there is an acting up to date agreement concluded is Orion Strategies. United National Movement used to cooperate with this company since 2004 – in the years of its being in the authority when the mentioned company was paid the due sums out of the budget. The history of this cooperation counts 16v years by now. The present contract with them is valid till October 7, 2020 and the cost of their services makes up USD 250 000. The company has undertaken to ensure organization of meetings in the USA for the client, support democracy and safety in Georgia, integration with NATO and the Western institutions.
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Keywords
Lobbying, Georgian lobby, United National Movement of Georgia, USA