By Kevin McCauley
Gray Global Strategies has inked a $300K one-year pact to represent the Moroccan American Center for Policy, a non-profit group formed by Morocco’s King Mohammed to foster closer ties with the U.S.
GGS is the firm of former Pennsylvania Congressman William Gray, who was the first African-American to chair the powerful Budget Committee and serve as Democratic Whip.
The ordained Baptist minister also headed the United Negro College Fund and sat on the boards of JPMorgan Chase and Rockwell International, He’s a board member of Prudential Financial.
His firm is to provide research and recommendations on how to develop “positive messages for U.S. public opinion and government officials,” according to its federal filing.
Morocco has been involved in a long-running struggle with the Polisario Front over control of the Western Sahara, a former colony of Spain.
The MACP, which pitches Morocco as a strategic ally of the U.S., links the Polisario to Al-Qaeda.
Youssef Amrani, Morocco’s deputy foreign minister, updated the Brookings Institution on July 26 about his country’s bid to transition to a constitutional democracy and called for a “joint dialog” with the U.S. on issues facing Africa and the results of the Arab Spring.
In 1777, Morocco became the first nation to recognize the United States as an independent country.
MACP hired Huntsworth’s Dutko Grayling last year to a $10K a-month pact.
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