Emu And The Death Squad Lobby
EMU and the Death Squad Lobby
by Eric Jackson
On Dec. 22 Student Organizations United for Peace (SOUP) called upon Eastern Michigan University to sever ties with the lobbying and legal service firm of O'Connor & Hannan. The Minneapolis-based firm has been on a $2,000 per month retainer with EMU since 1985. O'Connor & Hannan has recently gained notoriety as the lobbyist for the government of El Salvador. Salvadoran soldiers and police have killed over 60,000 people, mostly civilians, in that country in a decade-long civil war. In an open letter to regents and administrators, SOUP noted the massacre of Jesuits at the University of Central America by Salvadoran troops and said that "it is inappropriate for an apologist for those who murder educators to represent this university."
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, EMU President William E. Shelton stated, "O'Connor and Hannan provides consulting services to EMU in the form of lobbying efforts conducted on the university 's behalf relative to special projects, and funding identification and procurement in Washington, D.C." Since Shelton did not return phone calls, AGENDA was unable to identify the specific services EMU receives. John Burton, who chairs EMU 's Board of Regents, told AGENDA that he was unaware of the University's contract with O'Connor & Hannan: "I haven't pried into things that carried over from the prior administration.... Maybe next time around I may vote otherwise."
According to O'Connor & Hannan's Dec. 16 statement to the Minneapolis city council, the firm now represents the government of El Salvador, its president, Alfredo Cristiani, and the Salvadoran National Association of Private Enterprises (ANEP). In 1988 and until May 1989, O'Connor & Hannan represented the ARENA (Republican Nationalist Alliance) party. Relationships between the firm's lobbyists and various individuals and organizations of the Salvadoran right date back to 1977.
During Cristiani's 1989 presidential campaign, O'Connor & Hannan worked to give ARENA a new "moderate" image. The lobbyists paraded Cristiani around the halls of Congress. The firm also drafted an op-ed column which appeared under Cristiani 's name in The New York Times and was widely reprinted in other U.S. newspapers, according to O'Connor & Hannan lobbyist Joseph Blatchford (Guardian, April 12, 1989). Blatchford arranged for Cristiani's appearance on Nightline and interviews with the other television networks. When the Washington Post ran a series of articles which linked ARENA with death squad activities, Blatchford arranged a meeting between Cristiani, another ARENA official and Post Editor Ben Bradlee, a rare opportunity to plead with one of our country 's most powerful opinion leaders. Bradlee denies that the meeting has influenced his opinions or actions (Corporate Report Minnesota, November 1989).
On the eve of the March 1989 Salvadoran elections, O'Connor & Hannan visited key members of Congress and the administration on ARENA's behalf, including visits to Michigan Representatives William Broomfield and David Bonior. The firm produced the slick, four-page "The Salvadoran Reports" for congressional consumption, which proclaimed that ARENA's presidential campaign themes were "reminiscent of [the] 1980 American presidential campaign." That publication also promised that ARENA founder and death squad leader, Roberto D'Aubuisson "would not play a role" in a Cristiani govemment. Under the heading of human rights, O'Connor & Hannan's literature stated that: "Cristiani says all Salvadorans are entitled to the freedoms of a democratic society." Congress, including liberals such as Sen. Christopher Dodd, accepted ARENA's new image and continued aid to El Salvador.
Meanwhile, grassroots pressure was exerted by such groups as Neighbor to Neighbor, Pledge of Resistance and the National Lawyers' Guild to force public bodies which retain O'Connor & Hannan to cut such ties. O'Connor & Hannan partner Andy Shea defended his firm stating, "Law firms often represent clients that are not popular in the world" (Star Tribune, April 7, 1989). Critics argue that O'Connor & Hannan is not defending its client against criminal charges but helping to get funding for a continuing crime wave against the people of El Salvador.
Cristiani was elected president in a 1989 contest held under war conditions. After his inauguration, violence increased and culminated in bombings and murders directed against Salvadoran labor unions and COMADRES, an organization of mothers of the disappeared. The FMLN responded with a spectacular offensive in November 1989. Soldiers under Cristiani's command replied with a wave of brutal death squad murders. Cristiani's forces also cracked down on international religious and charitable missions, such as by detaining Detroit's Bishop Gumbleton, bombing Red Cross clinics, raiding Episcopal church offices and jailing U.S. citizen Jennifer Jean Casolo and a number of other foreigners on charges of aiding the FMLN. Cristiani's attorney general wrote to the Pope, threatening that fates like those suffered by the six Jesuits awaited other Catholic priests and bishops. Breaking with campaign promises written by O'Connor & Hannan on his behalf in "The Salvadoran Reports," Cristiani signed new legislation banning all labor union activity and providing stiff prison terms for opposition political activity. As the moderate mask fell from the faces of O'Connor & Hannan's clients, the lobbyist's propaganda themes still echoed in the halls of our government. From Christopher Dodd to George Bush, the atrocities committed by Cristiani' s government were attributed to unknown "extremists," while Cristiani was hailed as a "moderate" leader of a "democracy" who (despite legal precedent to the contrary) should not be held responsible for the actions of troops under his command.
As O'Connor & Hannan's campaign for aid to El Salvador has continued, the campaign against O'Connor & Hannan has spread. The firm's offices in Minneapolis, Washington, Denver and Madrid have been picketed. On December 16, the Minneapolis city council voted 10 - 2 to condemn O'Connor & Hannan's Salvadoran connection and not to renew some $500,000 in city contracts with the firm. On the eve of the vote, four partners and an associate who collectively comprised the entire legislative lobbying section of O'Connor & Hannan's Minneapolis office quit in protest of the El Salvador ties. Activists in Alaska and California have called on those states to cancel contracts with the firm. SOUP's call for EMU to find a new lobbyist adds to the trend.
Those who wish to lend support to SOUP's campaign should write to EMU President William E. Shelton at Pierce Hall, EMU, Ypsilanti Ml 48197, demanding that the university cut its ties with the death squad lobby.
[IN KEEPING WITH MY KINDER AND GENTLER POLICY I'LL LET HIM FINISH OUT HIS GAME.
T. CLINT BROWN]