Lobbying for Libya--and Bush

Hudome, who briefed Bush on Arab-American issues during the 2000 election, confirmed to NEWSWEEK she has been serving as an adviser and informal strategist for the Bush campaign this time as well as serving as a sometime surrogate speaker on the president's behalf before Arab-American audiences.

"I'm happy to help whenever they call me," said Hudome. "I'm happy to speak on the president's behalf." But she added, "I don't see any conflict" with her role as Libyan lobbyist. "I can give you a list of 101 foreign agents who play active roles on plenty of campaigns," Hudome said. "There are plenty of lobbyists in town who do political work, as well. I also have 20 years of experience in [domestic] politics. I don't see a problem with this."

Hudome also said that she has recently hired as a partner in her Libya work a former Clinton administration official who is now active in the Kerry campaign. But unlike Hudome, that person has not yet registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent. She declined to identify the individual. (Late Thursday, Hudome emailed and phoned a reporter that a top Kerry campaign foreign policy aide, Jonathan Winer, has been a registered foreign agent for Indonesia. Winer told NEWSWEEK that he resigned as a lobbyist for Indonesia when he went to work for the Kerry campaign and that the campaign has an "informal policy" prohibiting such connections for campaign officials.)

Still, Hudome's role is likely to prove controversial because of Libya's status as a formally designated sponsor of terrorism--a label it is not likely to lose any time soon following recent evidence that Kaddafi sought to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia just last year. A U.S. Muslim activist, Abdurahman Alamoudi, was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison this month after confessing to his role in taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from Libya to advance the plot. Sources tell NEWSWEEK that British authorities are actively investigating the Libyan plot and recently questioned Alamoudi about it at considerable length.

Hudome's role in helping to shape the endorsement--as well as her ties to the Bush campaign--was also sharply criticized by some of the family members of the victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. That attack has been linked to the Libyan government and was considered the most deadly terrorist act against American civilians until September 11.

"I think it's appalling," said Victoria Pimentel, whose husband, John B. Cummock, was killed in the Lockerbie bombing, and who has objected to the president's rapprochement with the Libyan government. "Clearly, you can buy policies and you can buy votes with this administration. Obviously, if you have a lobbyist for the Libyans who is out there trying to get Muslim votes for the president, it's a good indication of what this administration is all about."