Stephen Payne (lobbyist) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Stephen Prentiss Payne (born May 8, 1964) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Lobbying

Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...

from Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

. He has also served as a governmental, energy, international affairs, and international business development consultant, corporate and political adviser, foreign diplomat, businessman, fundraiser, and former adviser (June 2007 to July 2008) to two of the United States Department of Homeland Security

United States Department of Homeland Security

The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...

's Advisory Committees—the Secure
Borders and Open Doors Advisory Committee (SBODAC) and the Essential Technology Task Force (ETTF), in connection with which he held a U.S. security clearance

Security clearance

A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information, i.e., state secrets, or to restricted areas after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is also sometimes used in private organizations that have a formal...

.

In July 2008 he attracted international attention after being secretly videotaped discussing a $750,000 lobbying contract offering access to senior U.S. officials and suggesting a $250,000 donation to the future presidential library

Presidential library

In the United States, the Presidential library system is a nationwide network of 13 libraries administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration...

of U.S. president

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

Early life

Payne is the son of Jerry and Marianne Payne, in Houston, Texas. He studied Political Science at Stephen F. Austin State University

Stephen F. Austin State University

Stephen F. Austin State University is a public university located in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States. Founded as a teachers' college in 1923, the university was named after one of Texas' founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part of the homestead of another Texas founding...

(1982 to 1987). His father Jerry is a lawyer and was a longtime adviser of the state senator

Texas Senate

The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing 31 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 672,000 per constituency. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. The Senate meets at the...

J. E. "Buster" Brown.

Professional and business activities

Payne is the president of the consulting firm Payne Consulting, which he founded in 1996; president of Worldwide Strategic Partners (an international relations, international business development, and energy development firm); president of Worldwide Strategic Energy (a sister company to Worldwide Strategic Partners, which has a subsidiary called Caspian Alliance Inc.); co-founder of Alliance & Co. (an international investment advisory and asset management firm), founder and managing partner of the investment firm Envion Worldwide, and
Strategic Limited Partner for the global investment firm MSH Ventures.

Payne's clients have included JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....

, United Space Alliance

United Space Alliance

United Space Alliance is a spaceflight operations company. USA is a joint venture which was established in August 1995 as a Limited Liability Company , equally owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas and, employed approximately 8,800 people in Texas,...

, SAP Software

SAP AG

SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...

, Nextel Communications

Nextel Communications

Nextel Communications, commonly styled NEXTEL and formerly traded on the NASDAQ as NXTL, now a part of the Sprint Nextel Corporation, was a United States telecommunications firm operating a nationwide push to talk mobile communications system. Unlike other mobile networks, the Nextel network...

, Continental Airlines

Continental Airlines

Continental Airlines was a major American airline now merged with United Airlines. On May 3, 2010, Continental Airlines, Inc. and UAL, Inc. announced a merger via a stock swap, and on October 1, 2010, the merger closed and UAL changed its name to United Continental Holdings, Inc...

, Yukos Oil, Boeing

Boeing

The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...

, Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

, and Nuclear Solutions, Inc. Payne also represented Itera

Itera

ITERA International Group of Companies is a Russia-based private-owned corporate group with headquarters in Moscow. Its core business primarily focuses on gas and gas processing...

, one of Russia's largest independent natural gas

Natural gas

Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

producers.

In 2001, Payne served as Senior Advisor to the NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

Administrator on White House and Congressional Affairs.

International relations

Payne has served as Honorary Consul General for the Republic of Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

for the South central U.S. region (with headquarters in Houston) since 1999, and has served as an adviser to Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga

Vaira Vike-Freiberga

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was the sixth President of Latvia, the first female President of Latvia and the first female leader in eastern Europe. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and re-elected in 2003.Dr...

on political and economic issues. In 2004, President Freiberga awarded Payne Latvia's highest state honor, the Order of the Three Stars

Order of the Three Stars

Order of the Three Stars is order awarded for merits in service for Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of founding of Latvia. Its motto is "Per aspera ad astra"...

, for his work in helping Latvia become a NATO member. For the 2006 NATO Summit in Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

, Latvia, Payne was appointed by NATO to lead a think tank

Think tank

A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

conference panel discussion on energy security and chair a NATO Future Leaders Forum bringing together up-and-coming leaders from 35 NATO member and partner countries. He has also served on the board of directors of the U.S.-Baltic Foundation, which promotes free markets in the Baltic States

Baltic states

The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...

.

After Sept 11, 2001

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

, according to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf

Pervez Musharraf

Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...

, Payne played a pivotal in U.S. Pakistan relations, serves on behalf of the Pakistan Lobby in the United States through a group called Team Eagle (also known as Team Barakat). Payne worked as a lobbyist for Pakistan to deliver a multibillion dollar U.S. aid package and to remove U.S. economic and military sanctions against Pakistan that had been in place for several years. Payne also helped Pakistan secure Major non-NATO ally

Major non-NATO ally

Major non-NATO ally is a designation given by the United States government to close allies who have strategic working relationships with US armed forces but are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization...

status, which Pakistan received in 2004. Payne also helped to secure F-16s

F-16 Fighting Falcon

The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...

, C-130s

C-130 Hercules

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...

and military helicopters for Pakistan.

In April 2006, Payne helped arrange an official meeting between the Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

i president Ilham Aliyev

Ilham Aliyev

Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev is the President of Azerbaijan since 2003. He also functions as the Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party and the head of the National Olympic Committee...

and U.S. president George W. Bush

George W. Bush

in April 2006, something the Azerbaijani president had been attempting for three years.

He also assisted in having the Uzbek

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....

opposition politician Muhammad Salih

Muhammad Salih

Muhammad Salih , is an Uzbek political opposition leader and writer. He lives in exile in Norway where the government has granted him political asylum.-Early life:...

's name removed from Interpol

Interpol

Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...

's arrest warrant list and from the U.S.'s terrorist watchlist

No Fly List

The No Fly List is a list, created and maintained by the United States government's Terrorist Screening Center , of people who are not permitted to board a commercial aircraft for travel in or out of the United States. The list has also been used to divert away from U.S. airspace aircraft not...

.

Payne also assisted Turkmenistan in assembling a consortium of nations and international firms to build a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan. Payne coordinated a trilateral summit between the Presidents of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan that produced a memorandum of understanding regarding the Turkmen/Afghan natural gas pipeline, restoring the project's viability after years of dormancy at the hands of the Taliban.

He has also lobbied on behalf of the governments of Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...

and the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

, and performed consulting in Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, which he has visited twice. He has also served on the board of the National Defense University

National Defense University

The National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy. It is chartered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Navy Vice Admiral...

Foundation.

The lobbyist Randy Scheunemann

Randy Scheunemann

Randall J Scheunemann is an American neoconservative lobbyist. He is the President of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which was created by the Project for the New American Century , of which he is a board member. He was Trent Lott's National Security Aide and was an advisor to Defense...

has collaborated with Payne's firms on international matters since 2002, and Payne has also partnered in his various business ventures with Frank Carlucci

Frank Carlucci

Frank Charles Carlucci III is a former official in the United States Government, associated with the Republican Party. The most prominent office held by Carlucci was as Secretary of Defense from 1987 until 1989 in the Reagan Administration.-Early life and career:Carlucci was born in Scranton,...

, Michael S. Han, Ying Wang, and W. Dieter Zander.

Bush White House activities

During the 1988 presidential campaign

United States presidential election, 1988

The United States presidential election of 1988 featured no incumbent president, as President Ronald Reagan was unable to seek re-election after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the...

, Payne served as the travel aide to George W. Bush

George W. Bush

.

Payne served The White House as a "senior presidential advance representative" to George W. Bush, traveling with him as a volunteer to Jordan for the Red Sea Summit in June 2003. Payne also traveled with Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney

Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....

to the Middle East in 2002 and 2005, to South Korea in 2004, to Kazakhstan in 2006, and to Afghanistan for the inauguration of Hamid Karzai

Hamid Karzai

Hamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...

in December 2004. Payne was a part of a small team of Bush operatives, which included former White House Chief of Staff

White House Chief of Staff

The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...

Andy Card

Andrew Card

Andrew Hill Card, Jr. is a Republican American politician, former United States Cabinet member, and head of President George W. Bush's White House Iraq Group. Card served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George H. W. Bush and the White House Chief of Staff under George W. Bush...

, which assisted the 2000 campaign

George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2000

This article is about the 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush, winner of the 2000 presidential election and re-elected in the 2004 election.See George W. Bush for a detailed biography and information about his presidency, and George W...

in coordinating the three presidential debates

United States presidential election debates

During presidential elections in the United States, it has become customary for the main candidates to engage in a debate...

.

He has also been a Dubya Ranch Hand (2003), and was a Bush Ranger

Bush Pioneer

Bush Pioneers are people who gathered $100,000 for George W. Bush's 2000 or 2004 presidential campaign. Two new levels, Bush Rangers and Super Rangers, were bestowed upon supporters who gathered $200,000+ or $300,000+, respectively, for the 2004 campaign, after the 2002 McCain–Feingold campaign...

in 2004 and a Bush Pioneer

Bush Pioneer

in 2000 and 2004.

Other political activities

He is a member of the Republican Party

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

and has been active in various Republican causes since the late 1980s. He was a member of the staff of Kay Bailey Hutchison

Kay Bailey Hutchison

Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison, known as Kay Bailey Hutchison , is the senior United States Senator from Texas.She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001, she was named one of the thirty most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. The first woman to represent Texas in the U.S....

from 1993 to 1996 and served as State Vice Chairman of her 2000 and 2006 re-election campaigns. In the 1996 presidential election

United States presidential election, 1996

The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack...

he worked on the Dole-Kemp campaign. He assisted with the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign

United States presidential election, 2004

The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...

, the Senate campaign of Pete Coors

Pete Coors

Peter Hanson Coors is a U.S. businessman and entrepreneur. He currently is the Chairman of the Molson Coors Brewing Company and Chairman of MillerCoors, a joint operating venture, announced October 9, 2007 and completed June 30, 2008. Molson Coors headquarters are located in Colorado and...

for Senate, the Restore America PAC, the Rudolph Giuliani Presidential Committee (on the National Security Advisory Task Force), and the Tom DeLay

Tom DeLay

Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...

Congressional Committee.

According to Federal Election Commission

Federal Election Commission

The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...

records, since 1998 Payne has contributed more than $249,000 to Republican candidates and Republican Party committees.

Controversy

In July 2008 Payne was secretly videotaped discussing a $750,000 lobbying contract and offering access to senior U.S. officials (including Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney

Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....

, Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...

, and Joe Biden

Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...

) to the exiled Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

i politician Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov

Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov

Yerzhan Kalievich Dosmukhamedov is a Kazakhstani politician and former head of the Atameken National Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers of Kazakhstan...

(known as Eric Dos for short), and suggesting a $250,000 donation to the future George W. Bush Presidential Library

George W. Bush Presidential Library

The George W. Bush Presidential Center is a future complex that will include former President George W. Bush's presidential library and museum, the George W. Bush Policy Institute, and the offices of the George W. Bush Foundation. The facility will occupy roughly on the campus of Southern...

.

In the conversation, which was secretly taped by The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...

at a meeting in the restaurant of The Lanesborough

The Lanesborough

The Lanesborough is a 5-star hotel on Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge, central London, England. Operated by the American Starwood Hotels corporation, it is reputedly the most expensive hotel in London, the highest rate being up to £14,000 per night for the "The Lanesborough Suite". A 24-hour...

hotel in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Dosmukhamedov claimed that the former Kyrgyz

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

president Askar Akayev

Askar Akayev

Askar Akayevich Akayev served as the President of Kyrgyzstan from 1990 until his overthrow in the March 2005 Tulip Revolution....

wished to rehabilitate his image and meet with the U.S. officials. Payne has claimed that he did nothing wrong, and stated that he was there to recruit a new legitimate lobbying client and that it was Dos who first raised the issue of a donation in his initial e-mail to Payne. The Sunday Times has released only 4 minutes and 31 seconds of the hour-long meeting and Payne claims that the unreleased portion of the video would show that he was at the meeting to solicit a lobbying client and that the release of the entire tape would dispel The Sunday Times version of the video where Payne claims his comments were edited and taken out of context. Payne was asked to resign from the Homeland Security Advisory Committees directly following the July 13, 2008 publication of the article. U.S. Representative

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

Henry Waxman

Henry Arnold Waxman is the U.S. Representative for , serving in Congress since 1975. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He is considered to be one of the most influential liberal members of Congress...

, on behalf of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wrote a letter to Payne one day later, on July 14, 2008, requesting further details and background about this incident, and asked Payne to respond to his letter within ten days. Payne responded to the committee within ten days and Congress adjourned two months later without any further action from the House Committee.

External links

Worldwide Strategic Partners brochure
Photo gallery of Stephen Payne with world leaders
Video of Stephen Payne offering access to U.S. officials YouTube
Stephen Payne Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Payne’s rebuttal statement provided to Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune.
E-mails between Stephen Payne and Eric Dos
July 14, 2008 letter from Henry Waxman to Stephen Payne

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.