Taiwan pays $900,000 for ally Guatemala to lobby Washington

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


JOSHUA GOODMAN,
Associated Press
Jan. 17, 2022
Updated: Jan. 17, 2022 11:45 p.m.

MIAMI (AP) — Guatemala has hired for $900,000 a major supporter of former President Donald Trump to seek influence with U.S. officials in an unusual lobbying contract paid for by its ally Taiwan, foreign lobby records show.

Ballard Partners registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Justice Department on Jan. 13, according to new filings made public over the weekend. The contract, dated Jan. 12, was signed by Alfonso Quinonez, Guatemala's ambassador to the U.S., and Brian Ballard, president of the namesake lobbying firm and a longtime Trump ally.

It's not clear how hiring Ballard, who years before Trump ran for the White House worked for him as a lobbyist in Florida, will be able to help Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei draw closer to the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden, which has repeatedly expressed concerns about corruption in the Central American nation.

On Sunday, the U.S. State Department blasted Giammattei's government for seeking to lift the immunity from prosecution of a judge who has won high honors in Washington for exposing bribery in Guatemala.


Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/Taiwan-pays-900-000-for-ally-Guatemala-to-lobby-16783773.php

[Slammer]

1. same song, different verse

I don't have any particular knowledge of this but such deals can get complicated.

Taiwan likely owed a favor to some Trumpist.

That Trumpist asked for the favor to be returned by throwing some money toward Ballard.

Taiwan had no use for Ballard Partners and hiring them wouldn't put them on the good side of the Biden administration to say the least.

But Guatemala is in crap with the administration and doesn't have large wads of cash to spend on lobbyists.

There's plenty of Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill who would like to see a friendly face in Ballard and would look kindly upon a country which would hire his firm.

So Taiwan hires Ballard for Guatemala.

Ballard represents Guatemalan interests on Capitol Hill to the Republicans. If the Republicans manage to win control of either the House or the Senate in the midterms, the hire starts to look brilliant. If they don't win, Guatemala isn't out any money but owes Taiwan a return favor anyway.

And Ballard is probably going to spend some portion of that money making campaign donations to Republican midterm candidates, something neither Taiwan nor Guatemala could do even if they were interested in doing so.

In any case, everyone wins.

Taiwan pays off their favor and is now owed a favor by Guatemala.

Guatemala gets a free lobbyist.

The lobbyist gets a job.

Republicans get some amount of campaign donations.

The same kind of backdoor odd deals are done by various countries, companies, candidates, officeholders, and parties all the time.

When a Democrat or Republican officeholder loses office, they rarely fall off into financial oblivion. They make a call to a contact. That contact has someone who owes them a favor. That person pays off the favor by making a few phone calls and all of the sudden, the former officeholder has a job at a TV network, think tank, or as a consultant. And he then owes the favor back to his contact or someone else along the ratline which helped land him the job.

[UserNotFound]

2. That's

both infuriating and terribly depressing at the same time...

[Slammer]

3. safety net

Yeah, it's the Washington safety net.

Anytime you see a former politician on Fox, MSNBC, CNN, or any of the other networks, he or she probably got her job, or appearance fee, through the same kind of deal-making.

It's best to not think about it too much and just enjoy the ones you enjoy and wish the others would have just continued dropping off the face of the earth.

There's no way to stop people from networking and having those contacts pay off for them in roundabout ways.