Eurasianet has published information on governments` expenditures on lobbyists in the United States.
Georgia leads all countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia in the money it spends on lobbyists in Washington, DC, according to a review of US government records.
In 2010, Georgia had contracts with four lobbying firms, including some of Washington`s most influential, totaling at least $1.5 million. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan each employ a single firm to represent them in Washington, and spend considerably less: Azerbaijan is currently under a contract with Patton Boggs for $35,000 per month, and Kazakhstan pays public relations firm BGR Public Relations LLC $25,000 per month. The governments of the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia each have a yearly $120,000 contract with the Mark Saylor Company for public relations work.
In 2010, Georgia had contracts with Orion Strategies for $420,000, $426,800 with the Gephardt Group, $300,000 with the Podesta Group and $270,000 with the Ithaca Group.
Although Armenia does notcurrently retain any lobbyists in Washington, there are several powerful Armenian-American organizations that lobby on behalf of Yerevan`s interests. And that is part of the reason why Azerbaijan is active as well. It is aware it has an “adversary that is well-organized and well-established on the Hill.”
In 2008 and 2009, Azerbaijan paid a total of $1.3 million and Georgia $1.4 million to lobbying firms.
Azerbaijan, after spending most of 2009 and 2010 without a lobbyist, signed a contract in December 2010 with Patton Boggs. The contract filed with the Justice Department gives little indication of what specific issues Baku is interested in, only that the company`s activities “will include counseling and assisting [Azerbaijan] with regard to US-Azerbaijan bilateral relations.”
Under previous lobbying contracts, however, Azerbaijan appeared especially interested in its image in the United States.
Lobbyists for Azerbaijan also worked in early 2009 to get members of Congress to commemorate the 1992 Khojaly massacre during the Nagorno-Karabakh war. The effort appeared to have some small effect: at least one member of Congress, Ed Whitfield, a Republican from Kentucky, formally recognized the anniversary of the Khojaly events in the Congressional record three days after meeting with a lobbyist from the Livingston Group on the subject.
