Former foreign lobbyist Jeff Flake has a South Africa apartheid problem

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The National Journal published a story earlier this week About Jeff Flake's Lobbying Ties to South Africa:

Arizona Senate candidate and GOP Rep. Jeff Flake was pressed over the weekend about his past work as a lobbyist for a Namibian uranium mine during an appearance on a local TV interview program, including whether any of his lobbying work ever supported South Africa during apartheid.

Flake, whose work in the influence industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s was detailed by the National Journal in April, adamantly denied that he had ever, in the interviewer's words, "either for an employer or on your own, either indirectly or directly" supported the regime in South Africa.

"Absolutely not," Flake said firmly.

But one of the companies Flake worked for in the 1980s did have ties to the ruling powers of South Africa. Federal records show that Flake worked at Smoak, Shipley & Henry, a law firm that had represented the South African-controlled regime in Namibia during apartheid.

Flake worked for a group called the Namibia News Bureau, run out of the Smoak, Shipley & Henry offices. Anti-apartheid groups had criticized Smoak and Shipley in the 1980s.

There is no evidence that Flake ever supported apartheid and in the television interview he called it "offensive" and an "awful system."

"Namibia was the victim of South Africa's oppression," he said. Flake lived in Namibia in 1989 as the head of a nonprofit dedicated to helping bring democracy to the nation and transition it away from apartheid rule.

"For anybody to suggest that I in any way countenanced what the South Africans were doing or the policy of apartheid is offensive," he said, saying the charge "baffles" him.

But Democrats pounced on Flake's denial, calling it "misleading" and posting a video of the interview online. (Video below the fold).

"Jeff Flake is blatantly misleading Arizonans about the years he spent as a lobbyist and registered foreign agent, trying to grease the wheels in Washington on behalf of his clients," said Matt Canter, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "Arizonans deserve to know the truth about Flake's time as a D.C. lobbyist for corporate foreign interests with indisputable ties to South Africa."

Steve Benen posts today Jeff Flake's South Africa problem:

Unfortunately for Flake, there's a Buzzfeed report today that is reason to question the accuracy of his response.

In 1987, Flake testified before the Utah State Senate in support of a resolution expressing support for the government of South Africa while racial segregation laws were enforced — largely to support U.S. mining interests in the region. In testimony flagged by a Democratic source, Flake opposed sanctions on the regime, arguing they only worsened the living conditions for black South Africans.

Flake said, "as far as the economic sanctions having a … more direct impact on the black community, I overhear we tend to think of every black South African as a radical stone-throwing protestor who will stop at nothing until the government is overthrown," Flake said according to a transcript of the his testimony. "There are moderate elements there. There have been a lot of polls taken both ways. Most of them come out with about, that there are more moderates, considered moderate, than there are radicals. Those are funny terms and most of them aren't moderate, they just don't care one way or another or they don't know about the situation. It has had a dramatic impact on the black population, the biggest impact is that the companies pulling out, the American companies pulling out…"

In other words, in 1987, when human-rights activists around the globe were calling for more sanctions against South Africa's apartheid regime, there was Jeff Flake, lobbying for the opposite.

There's even an audio clip of Flake's lobbying in Utah.

What's more, National Journal's report added additional details about a related association:

[O]ne of the companies Flake worked for in the 1980s did have ties to the ruling powers of South Africa. Federal records show that Flake worked at Smoak, Shipley & Henry, a law firm that had represented the South African-controlled regime in Namibia during apartheid.

Flake worked for a group called the Namibia News Bureau, run out of the Smoak, Shipley & Henry offices. Anti-apartheid groups had criticized Smoak and Shipley in the 1980s.

A story like this can quickly turn into political quick sand for a candidate. The alleged lobbying ties to South Africa's apartheid government is scandalous enough, but for Flake to insist on the record and on the air that he had "absolutely" no ties and offered no support to the regime, when there's evidence to the contrary, suggests he's made this controversy even worse.