Richard Smotkin, the lobbyist whose work for former Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt made headlines last year, has signed a pact with the Republic of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Culture and Sports, the executive body that oversees culture, inter-ethnic stability, language development, religious activities, physical culture and sports, as well as gambling within the central Asian country.
 Richard Smotkin |
Working through his lobbying outfit ThirdCircle, Inc., Smotkin will facilitate meetings between Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Culture and Sports and representatives within the U.S. film and media industry, according to Foreign Agents Registration Act documents filed in April.
The meetings are intended to improve bilateral relations between Kazakhstan and the U.S as well as advance cultural exchange opportunities between the two nations.
Smotkin, who was formerly senior vice president of government affairs at Comcast, was the center of controversy last year when it was discovered he’d received a $40,000-a-month contract to lobby on behalf of the Moroccan government, mere months after he’d organized a $100,000 trip for longtime friend—and then EPA head—Scott Pruitt to visit Morocco, ostensibly for the purpose of promoting U.S. liquefied natural gas exports.
That December 2017 trip prompted an investigation from the EPA inspector general. Pruitt resigned from the EPA administrator post in July.
TC takes a fixed monthly fee of $30,000 for the Kazakhstan pact, with all travel and accommodations to be reimbursed.
London Global Strategies is providing government relations and PR counsel to the economic development arm of the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí.
Havas Media Germany has hired Piro Inc. to further the digital push of the Israel Government Advertising Agency to sway US public opinion.
Hogan Lovells has signed a $100K monthly pact to represent Venezuela’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, and its Washington embassy.
Liberia has agreed to pay a $100K monthly retainer to Ballard Partners for counsel on how to improve its relations with the US.
Romania has signed a $565K monthly contract with Eversheds Sutherland for strategic counsel and government relations activities.
