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WASHINGTON – There was something noticeably missing in a Miami Herald story this week reporting a key advisor to John McCain lobbied on behalf of a French liquor giant that partners with the Cuban government to sell rum.
There was no mention that another McCain advisor – former assistant secretary of state Otto Reich – has lobbied on the other side of that same long-running trademark dispute, on behalf of the Miami-based rival company Bacardi.
The Herald, citing lobbyist disclosure firms, reported that a firm that McCain advisor John Green co-founded has since 2001 has lobbied to protect liquor manufacturer Pernod Ricard’s right to the trademark, Havana Club.
The story also said disclosure forms show Green has lobbied on several bills that seek to relax the U.S. embargo of Cuba. The thrust of the story was that Green, although a McCain campaign advisor, has pushed positions seemingly contrary to McCain’s stance that Cuba must first enact a series of political and human-rights reforms before the embargo is lifted. A spokesman for Green’s firm denied that such lobbying has occurred.
Even if that were the case, there’s no dispute that McCain and his campaign has also been getting advice on Cuba and Latin American issues from someone who has been on the other side of the Havana Club trademark issue.
Reich, a former assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, also is a McCain advisor.
And to this day, Reich prominently notes on the Web site of his consulting firm, Otto Reich Associates, LLC, that he has had Bacardi and Co. Ltd., and Bacardi International, Inc., as clients.
-- Billy House
There was no mention that another McCain advisor – former assistant secretary of state Otto Reich – has lobbied on the other side of that same long-running trademark dispute, on behalf of the Miami-based rival company Bacardi.
The Herald, citing lobbyist disclosure firms, reported that a firm that McCain advisor John Green co-founded has since 2001 has lobbied to protect liquor manufacturer Pernod Ricard’s right to the trademark, Havana Club.
The story also said disclosure forms show Green has lobbied on several bills that seek to relax the U.S. embargo of Cuba. The thrust of the story was that Green, although a McCain campaign advisor, has pushed positions seemingly contrary to McCain’s stance that Cuba must first enact a series of political and human-rights reforms before the embargo is lifted. A spokesman for Green’s firm denied that such lobbying has occurred.
Even if that were the case, there’s no dispute that McCain and his campaign has also been getting advice on Cuba and Latin American issues from someone who has been on the other side of the Havana Club trademark issue.
Reich, a former assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, also is a McCain advisor.
And to this day, Reich prominently notes on the Web site of his consulting firm, Otto Reich Associates, LLC, that he has had Bacardi and Co. Ltd., and Bacardi International, Inc., as clients.
-- Billy House