former rep. peter hoekstra, a potential pick for cia director, has a long list of lobbying clients.  | ap photo by benjamin oreskes 11/16/16 12:05 pm est former rep. peter hoekstra, a potential donald trump pick to run the central intelligence agency, previously lobbied on behalf of the kurdish regional government, a belarusian potash company and a libyan organization, as well as many major u.s.-based companies. vice president-elect mike pence took control of the trump transition effort from new jersey gov. chris christie last friday amid reports that he is purging the team of lobbyists to square with the campaign<u+2019>s theme of <u+201c>draining the swamp<u+201d> in washington. story continued below during the campaign, trump said he would issue a <u+201c>lifetime ban against senior executive branch officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.<u+201d> still, he backtracked on his opposition to lobbyists in a <u+201c>60 minutes<u+201d> interviews earlier this week. hoekstra, who chaired the house intelligence committee from 2004 to 2007, has been floated repeatedly over the past week as a potential cia chief. but his lobbying record is extensive; he worked as a lobbyist for greenberg traurig and dickstein shapiro after leaving congress in 2011, and then struck out on his own this year. the michigan republican, who served 18 years in the house and unsuccessfully pursued both the michigan governorship and a senate seat, currently heads hoekstra global strategies, whose clients include oregon-based manufacturer columbia helicopters and michigan-based oil production outfit core energy , according to lobbying disclosure reports. in 2016, his company reported $68,500 in income from the two companies. in his work before that, at greenberg traurig and dickstein shapiro, hoekstra lobbied on behalf of mutliple domestic corporations, including coal giant peabody energy and tobacco company lorillard inc., as the latter went through a $27.4 billion merger with reynolds american. and like rudy giuliani, whose bid to become trump<u+2019>s secretary of state has prompted scrutiny of his foreign lobbying work, hoekstra has done plenty of work for foreign clients. presidential transition by michael crowley and shane goldmacher hoekstra declined to comment on media speculation about a potential nomination - or how his lobbying history might affect his chances of getting a job in the trump administration. <u+201c>any characterization of what<u+2019>s going on and who they<u+2019>re bringing on, that<u+2019>s for the transition team to talk about and not for me,<u+201d> hoekstra, who is in washington today, told politico in a brief phone interview. <u+201c>i<u+2019>ve talked to the folks at the campaign,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>they<u+2019>re going through a very complicated process. i<u+2019>ve been impressed with what they<u+2019>re doing.<u+201d> hoekstra served as trump<u+2019>s michigan co-chair and advisor on national security issues during the 2016 campaign. he also said that he participated in several briefings with trump on middle east issues and the threat from isis before the election. <u+201c>he learns very quickly and he behaves exactly the way i would see a ceo behave,<u+201d> hoekstra said of trump. after leaving congress in early 2013 he joined dickstein shapiro, and then moved in august 2014 to greenberg traurig, which also employed giuliani. it<u+2019>s there that hoekstra<u+2019>s foreign lobbying took off. hoekstra worked on raising the kurdish regional government<u+2019>s profile on the hill, meeting often with his former colleagues and their staffs. the kurdish regional government is the semi-autonomous governing body of the predominately kurdish northern part of iraq. their armed forces, known as the peshmerga, have been instrumental in the retaking of mosul and the larger fight against isis. he argued in the pages of the national review that the united states must provide the kurdish security forces - known as the peshmerga - with weapons to defeat isis. <u+201c>the united states needs to immediately provide it with more than light arms and artillery to tip the scales in their favor and overcome the firepower of the islamists,<u+201d> he wrote . from april 2014 to october 2015, the firm received just over $ 260,000 in payments from the kurdish regional government, according to justice department records. (hoekstra left greenberg traurig in august 2015.) presidential transition by eli stokols the libya institute for advanced studies, an organization that<u+2019>s partnered with the state department to do educational workshops in the war-torn country, also enlisted hoekstra<u+2019>s services at greenberg traurig<u+2019>s services in 2015. his goal was to <u+201c>strengthen a dialogue with members of congress, administration officials and other key leaders in the united states to communicate the foundation and its leadership's interests and policies for lias and issues related to the security and development of libya,<u+201d> according to justice department records. just after he left greenberg, hoekstra published a book titled <u+201c>architects of disaster: the destruction of libya about the obama administration actions in libya.<u+201d> the work was roundly dismissed by white house officials. but the heritage foundation<u+2019>s james carafano, who is working on the trump foreign policy transition, called it <u+201c>a graphic autopsy of what went wrong in libya and why.<u+201d> former gop nominee mitt romney said the book <u+201c>cuts to the core in identifying how a radical islamist agenda left to its own devices cannot reconcile with western ideals of tolerance and acceptance.<u+201d> hoekstra also helped lobby on behalf of a belarusian fertilizer company worried about the prospect of u.s. sanctions during his time with greenberg traurig. rep. dana rohrabacher, a trump supporter as well, told politico earlier this year that he thought hoekstra helped organize a meeting with half a dozen company officials when the california representative traveled to the country on a government-sponsored trip. <u+201c>we developed a very close and trusting relationship when he was in congress and i always respected him,<u+201d> rohrabacher said. <u+201c>so when he recommended the meeting i, of course, took him up on the offer.<u+201d> by michael grunwald by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz
hoekstra, potential cia pick, has long foreign, domestic lobbying resume - politico
michael crowley shane goldmacher eli stokols michael grunwald