Money and Politics of a Cultural Property Kind

Money and politics is an unfortunate reality here in Washington, D.C.    So, it should be no surprise that Opensecrets.org reports that  Deborah Lehr of the Archaeological Institute of America, Capitol Archaeological Institute and Antiquities Coalition has given at least $124,800 to mostly Republican candidates over the years.  Or that Clay Constantinou, a board member of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute, helped Democrats raise so much money that President Clinton appointed him as Ambassador to Luxembourg.  But perhaps it helps explain why despite the CPIA's legislative history, CPAC's prior recommendations on Cypriot and Italian coins, bipartisan support in Congress for coin collectors, and lopsided numbers of public comments against import restrictions on coins, there are now import restrictions on coins from Cyprus, China, Italy, Greece and  Bulgaria, and if the AIA and related groups has their way apparently there will soon be restrictions on coins from Egypt as well.

There needs to be far more scrutiny about behind the scenes lobbying of the executive branch by principles of public charities which were supposedly created to further purely academic pursuits like archaeology.

CAARI VP Ellen Herscher Response to Post on Clay Constantinou

Ellen Herscher has made the following response to my post entitled, "Clay Constantinou of Patton Boggs-- CAARI's Chief Lobbyist?" (see: http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/) on the Museum Security Listserve:

From: Ellen Herscher It is unfortunate that Mr. Tompa does not get his facts straight before spinning his conspiracy theories: Ambassador Constantinou very recently became affiliated with Patton Boggs and had no connection with them more than a year ago when the Cyprus MOU was under consideration by the State Department. For the record, CAARI is a 501(c)3 organization: it does not lobby nor does it employ lobbyists.

While I appreciate Ms. Herscher's clarification of one point in my post that I had indicated I could not confirm on the Patton Boggs website, her own post does raise some additional questions.

The first relates to her statement that Patton Boggs had "no connection" to Ambassador Constantinou. Typically, associations with large law firms do not happen overnight. It can literally take six months to a year for someone to join a large firm. Thus, even if Ambassador Constantinou had not yet joined Patton Boggs in July 2007, he may have been in the process of doing so. And let's face it. Having someone with Constantinou's Cypriot connections on board could not but help with "client relations" with Cyprus for not only Patton Boggs, but for CAARI as well. See: http://www.pattonboggs.com/cconstantinou/ (listing awards received from Cyprus).

Perhaps, Ms. Herscher can check with Ambassador Constantinou about his start date and provide us with further information whether he was in the process of negotiating with Patton Boggs at the time the Cyprus MOU was being finalized. But the far more relevant question that remains is whether Ambassador Constantinou or anyone else from Patton Boggs helped convince the State Department to overturn prior precedent and insert coins into the Cyprus MOU. That, of course, is not answered in Ms. Herscher's post.

Ms. Herscher's statement that "CAARI is a 501 (c) (3) organization: it does not lobby nor does it employ lobbyists" also only raises additional questions.

Most significantly, how does Ms. Herscher define the term "lobbying?" Does she only define it in a technical fashion as a contact that triggers a reporting requirement under a statute or more broadly, in the common sense of the term as "any attempt to influence legislators or officials?" See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying

However one defines the term, CAARI representatives do appear to have done more than just show up at the CPAC meeting on Cyprus. Indeed, the words of CAARI's own president suggest a far deeper involvement in the decision to extend import restrictions to "coins of Cypriot type" than Ms. Herscher implies. See Cyprus News Agency, “CAARI-30 Years Interview with Gustave Feissel” available online at: http://www.cna.org.cy/website/english/subject1.shtm#GF (“CAARI, according to Feissel, has been instrumental in the renewal of a Memorandum of Understanding between Cyprus and the US to restrict the import of Cypriot antiquities into the US, including for the first time ancient coins.”). At a bare minimum, a CAARI newsletter indicates that Ms. Herscher herself facilitated a meeting between the Greek Cypriot Director of Antiquities and officials of the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center to discuss "cultural property issues." See: J. Green, "Cyprus Director of Antiquities, Dr. Pavolos Flourtzos, Visits the U.S.," 31 CAARI News 3 (Winter 2006) (available online at: http://www.caari.org/newsletters/CAARI-News-31.pdf) Facilitating such a meeting constitutes "lobbying" in my book, even if it is not in Ms. Herscher's.

Clay Constantinou of Patton Boggs-- CAARI's Chief Lobbyist?

As set forth in a recent post, Clay Constantinou, a former ambassador, represented the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) at the July 19, 2007 Cyprus MOU signing ceremony during two days of lobbying for Cyprus on Capitol Hill and in the State Department itself. See:http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2008/08/pseka-international-coordinating.html

It turns out that Constantinou is not only a CAARI trustee, but is also associated with one of the nation's premier lobbying firms, Patton Boggs. See http://www.caari.org/Trustees.htm and http://www.pattonboggs.com/cconstantinou/

Interestingly, only a few weeks after the MOU signing ceremony the National Journal on 8/4/07 reported that the Republic of Cyprus had "dangled" a lobbying contract worth $1.4 million a year to lobbying heavyweights like Patton Boggs, Qorvis Communications, Clark and Weinstock, and the Washington Group. The report noted that "Cyprus, which was invaded by Turkey in 1974 and has poor relations with its neighbor since then, is hoping to strengthen its influence in Washington, partly to counter Turkey's long-standing clout in the capital."

A review of lobbying registration databases provides no indication that either CAARI or Contantinou have registered as lobbyists. However, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) database indicates that Patton Boggs registered for Cyprus on 9/25/07: See http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fara/links/search.html

As detailed in the FARA filing, Patton Boggs undertakes to provide "advice and counsel to the Government of the Republic of Cyprus regarding relations with the US Government and the Excutive Branch."

Patton Boggs retains Qoris Communications LLC and SMS Strategies LLC to assist in the lobbying venture.

Former Ambassador Constantinou is not listed as a “core member" of the group lobbying on behalf of Cyprus (though "heavy hitters" like the Hon. John Breaux and Tommy Boggs are), but I suppose Constantinou could still have some involvement on the account and that would certainly make sense given the connections with Cyprus mentioned in his Patton Boggs biography.

Here is the kicker. The Republic of Cyprus agrees to pay Patton Boggs $103,625 as a fixed monthly retainer for the period from 9/1/07 to 8/31/08. Travelling expenses are additional.

The foreign signatory for the agreement and the party to whom Patton Boggs reports is named as Ambassador Kakouris of Cyprus (also prominent during the Cyprus MOU signing ceremony as well as the CPAC hearing on Cyprus).

All this of course just raises additional questions. In particular, assuming Ambassador Constantinou was affilated with Patton Boggs at the time (something I could not confirm, but seems likely) did he and/or his partners at Patton Boggs work their magic in getting coins included in the MOU not only for the greater glory of CAARI, but also as a "freebie" to help impress Cyprus about Patton Boggs' lobbying acumen? Or, is this just all another coincidence?

One thing is for sure. High powered lobbying all to beat up on the small businesses of the numismatic trade and collectors who just want to help preserve, study and display coins of Cypriot type (like their fellow collectors in Cyprus itself) does little to advance Cyprus' greater interests in ensuring a just reunification of the Island. If anything, it just "turns off" a segment of the US population with a real interest in Cyprus and its glorious past to anything at all to do with the modern nation state and its government.