PR firm busts disclosure deadline while representing Burkina Faso
In June, Burkina Faso’s minister of human rights and civil promotion, in the midst of civil unrest in her West African nation, traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress and other U.S. officials.
Helping arrange the meetings: CD Global Strategies, a D.C.-based public relations firm led by Calvin Dark, who touts his experience working on behalf of foreign political officials.
The outreach on behalf of Burkina Faso fell squarely under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, an anti-propaganda law meant to make sure the public is informed about any foreign attempts to influence U.S. public opinion and policy.
The law explicitly requires those acting on behalf of foreign principals to register and disclose their activities to the U.S. Department of Justice within 10 days of agreeing to become a foreign agent and before doing any work.
But CD Global Strategies didn’t register until Nov. 11, months after its public relations work for Burkina Faso Minister Julie Prudence Nigna/Somda began, a review of FARA filings by the Center for Public Integrity found.
The disclosures came months after the firm had arranged meetings on Burkina Faso’s behalf with Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations; Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee; and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a member of Senate Foreign Relations.
Burkina Faso officials also met with representatives from USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation to discuss the nation's human rights efforts. Both entities fund programs in Burkina Faso.
There’s more to this story. Click here to read the rest at the Center for Public Integrity.
This story is part of Primary Source. Primary Source keeps you up-to-date on developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics. Click here to read more stories in this blog.
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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
