McCain adviser's work as lobbyist comes to light

— -- This story is part of USA TODAY's series, "The Price of Power," which tracks the political and business relationships between public officials and donors.

WASHINGTON — John McCain's top foreign policy adviser lobbied the Arizona senator's staff on behalf of the republic of Georgia while he was working for the campaign, public records show.

Randy Scheunemann, founder of Orion Strategies, represented the governments of Macedonia, Georgia and Taiwan between 2003 and March 1, according to the firm's filings with the Justice Department. In its latest semiannual report, the firm disclosed that Scheunemann had a phone conversation in November about Georgia with Richard Fontaine, an aide in McCain's Senate office.

Orion Strategies earned $540,000 from its foreign clients over the year ending on Dec. 1, reports show. Scheunemann also received $56,250 last year from March to July from McCain, according to campaign finance records.

The campaign consulting fees ended at a time when McCain was under financial pressure to cut costs, but Scheunemann remained the campaign's top foreign policy adviser. He represented McCain throughout last fall — including an appearance at a Republican Jewish Coalition event during the same week he lobbied McCain's Senate office.

While not illegal or a breach of Senate ethics rules, Scheunemann's lobbying of McCain's staff as he was advising the campaign comes to light a week after McCain announced a new policy to avoid such conflicts. The new conflict-of-interest policy prohibits campaign workers from being registered lobbyists or foreign agents and bans part-time volunteers from policy discussions on issues involving their clients.

Campaign spokesman Jill Hazelbaker said the ethics policy is not retroactive. She declined to answer any questions about Scheunemann. "This campaign has a policy; it's the most stringent of any presidential campaign in history, and everyone will have to comply or resign, but we're not going to discuss any individual staff members and their individual decisions," she said in an e-mail.