Critics, watchdogs question stealth Cuba lobbying campaign

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

Opponents of the Obama administration's effort to normalize relations with Cuba and some ethics watchdogs are questioning the lack of transparency behind a million-dollar advocacy campaign that pushed for the historic thaw.

 

Two articles — one that was published in the September/October issue of Mother Jones, and another in the January edition of The Nation — detail the back-channel negotiations and behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign leading up to President Obama's December rapprochement to change five decades of U.S. policy and renew ties with the island nation.

 

Both reports also give a Denver-based progressive government relations firm, the Trimpa Group, credit for an elaborate behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign that helped press the administration into action on Cuba.

 

But there are no lobbying disclosure records on Congress's searchable database on the Trimpa Group's Cuba campaign, according to a Washington Examiner review of the files.