Anchor Rising: Taking a Local Stand Against the Government of Sudan

April 11, 2006

Taking a Local Stand Against the Government of Sudan

Carroll Andrew Morse

State Representatives Joseph Almeida (D-Providence), Edith Ajello (D-Providence), Anastasia Williams (D-Providence), James Davey (R-Cranston), and Thomas Slater (D-Providence) have introduced a bill to the legislature that would require the state government of Rhode Island to divest from the Sudan (House bill 7969). This action follows the recent and laudable decisions by the city of Providence and by Brown University to divest.

But how about also getting any money from lobbying firms that have represented the Sudan out of Rhode Island politics?

According to the Washington Post, the government of Sudan tried last year to hire a Washington consulting firm to represent its interests in the US�

[Robert] Cabelly, 55, is managing director of a Washington consulting firm called C/R International LLC�
Cabelly, who declined to speak publicly on the matter, reported to the Justice Department that his contract with Sudan paid his firm $530,000 a year plus transportation expenses.

The Post reports that C/R �dropped Sudan as a client last month� in response to pressure from Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf. According to Congressman Wolf, C/R reported their contract with the Sudan to the US government in August of 2005�

On August 12 of this year, Mr. Cabelly filed with the Foreign Agents Registration Unit at the Department of Justice, reporting a contract with the Government of the Republic of Sudan for $530,000 per year. The contract lists the agreed representation by Mr. Cabally for the Government of Sudan as providing �public relations, government relations and strategic counsel as they would relate to implementing the North-South peace agreement, cooperating in the war on terrorism, and addressing other issues....

Given these dates, according to Rhode Island campaign finance records, there was a single Rhode Island politician who accepted a campaign contribution from a C/R International employee while the firm was in the employ of the Sudan�

Candidate	Amount		Date	Donor
Patrick Lynch	$200		12/20/2005	Stephen F. Riley, C/R International

9:18 AM

Comments, although monitored, are not necessarily representative of the views Anchor Rising's contributors or approved by them. We reserve the right to delete or modify comments for any reason.

wow, what would RIPop and David Segal say?

By my count, I have steven riley contributing $800 total in the additional following amounts and dates

$150.00 Date: 06/10/03
$150.00 10/20/04
$300.00 04/19/05

Posted by: johnb at April 11, 2006 10:43 AM

Nice! What other creepy characters has the AG been taking money from?

Posted by: SusanD at April 11, 2006 5:13 PM

The liquor lobby for one. Lots and lots of booze money. Of course, that's probably because before his brother tapped him to became AG, he was a major lobbyist for the local liquor industry. No wonder we've had such a tough time here getting perfectly reasonable drunk driving laws on the books, enforcing the ones that we already have, and closing major loopholes that allow drunks to decline the breathilizer test with little fear of consequence. There certainly hasn't been a full court press from that office on that and many other issues.

Posted by: Will at April 12, 2006 1:23 AM