PRO-$AUDI LOBBY TIED TO ANTI-ISRAEL ADS
By BRIAN BLOMQUIST
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May 31, 2002 -- WASHINGTON - A powerful D.C. lobbying house has been shaken by its controversial contract with Saudi Arabia and its link to hard-hitting anti-Israel ads, sources told The Post.
"There's unease," confirmed Stuart Pape, managing partner of Patton Boggs, a Washington lobbying institution.
Patton Boggs has a $50,000-per-month contract to arrange meetings between the Saudis and members of Congress and the Bush administration.
But its partners are steamed about its relationship with Qorvis Communication, which has a $200,000-per-month p.r. contract to promote the Saudis as friends in the U.S. war against terrorism.
The Qorvis p.r. blitz included pro-Saudi TV ads that some cable networks, including the History Channel and the Weather Channel, rejected as inappropriate.
Qorvis also played a role in airing hard-hitting radio ads that called for Israel's "withdrawal from the Palestinian land it has unjustly occupied for years."
The ads were promoted by the "Alliance for Peace and Justice," a group that Qorvis helped create for a consulting fee paid by Arab-American supporters.
Qorvis executive Michael Petruzello said the ads were produced and placed by Sandler-Innocenzi, a D.C. advertising firm run by two former top officials for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Petruzello - who said he vetted the ads - said the financial backers of the "alliance" include the Arab-American Institute, the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council and the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Sandler-Innocenzi, which has done work for many top Republicans, also placed the controversial pro-Saudi TV ads for Qorvis, although Sandler-Innocenzi didn't register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent as required by law.
Patton Boggs has a 15 percent ownership of Qorvis, but sources say Qorvis' anti-Israel stance could end the relationship.
Pape refused to comment on the financial relationship with Qorvis, but said the dissent among the lawyers and lobbyists at Patton Boggs has come "in the way lawyers usually express their views - meetings, conversations, the usual stuff."
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