Source: Politics<\/p>\n
LIV Golf\u2019s tentacles are penetrating deeper into the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
The Saudi-bankrolled enterprise, which has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill in recent months, has hired a prominent firm based in Arlington, Va., to help advance its efforts to upend the golf industry.<\/p>\n
McKenna & Associates, a non-partisan firm headed by Bush administration alum Andrew McKenna, is providing LIV with management consulting services, according to copies of correspondences viewed by POLITICO and people familiar with the arrangement. The firm helped LIV with monitoring and tracking the advocacy of families of 9\/11 victims who were protesting the tour because of its ties to the Saudi government, according to the correspondence.<\/p>\n
LIV Golf confirmed its relationship with the firm in a statement to POLITICO.<\/p>\n
\u201cMcKenna has supported the management team as we continue to reinvent the global game of golf,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the first time in recent years that McKenna & Associates has done work for a controversial, high-profile client. The firm was at the heart of accusations that the National Rifle Association engaged in insider dealing when it hired the wife of a top NRA official. The NRA\u2019s own accountants reportedly raised concerns<\/a> about the conflicts posed by that arrangement and its work in general, for which McKenna & Associates earned millions<\/a>. And in 2020, New York Attorney General Tish James sued the NRA<\/a>, alleging in part that top NRA officials hired McKenna\u2019s firm without going through the NRA\u2019s contract process and paid it $5 million over five years. That case is ongoing.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear when the firm picked up LIV as a client. But in a statement to POLITICO, McKenna & Associates defended its work on behalf of the golf tour.<\/p>\n \u201cLIV\u2019s goal is to grow and to reinvent the global game of golf and our entire team is proud to be part of that effort,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n McKenna & Associates is not registered to represent LIV Golf under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and the firm did not respond to a request for comment about why it has not. FARA generally mandates<\/a> that entities lobbying or providing public relations consulting for a foreign principal, such as a foreign government, in the U.S. must register that work with the Department of Justice. However, there are exemptions to the law, including for activities \u201cin furtherance of the bona fide trade or commerce,\u201d sometimes even if the foreign principal is state-owned.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, POLITICO reported that a subsidiary of the public relations giant Edelman had also done work for LIV Golf<\/a>. That work was also never reported under FARA. Edelman maintained that it had been contracted through a golf-focused marketing firm.<\/p>\n