Recent news

PBLA honors Jānis Kukainis with its top award

ALA announces Nov. 18 gifts to Latvia

Latvia applauds work of 380 diaspora organizations

LTV to broadcast Nov. 18 events over Internet

Latvia ranks 10th in world for closing gender gap

Analysts, rating services sour on Latvia’s credit

Government takes over No. 2 Parex Banka

Zatlers congratulates Obama on U.S. election victory

Irish police ask help to find missing Latvian man

Zatlers travels to Ireland to meet officials, Latvians

Archive

Foreign ministry suspends honorary consul in Texas

Andris Straumanis

August 12, 2008

Latvia’s honorary consul in Texas, a well-known lobbyist who faces an investigation for allegedly selling access to the Bush Administration in exchange for donations to a new presidential library, has been suspended from his duties.

Stephen P. Payne’s suspension will last up to a year, the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided July 25. Details of the decision are not public, the ministry’s press office told Latvians Online in an Aug. 12 e-mail.

Payne, who is based in Houston, serves as the honorary consul in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Payne also is president of the lobbying firm Worldwide Strategic Partners and it is in that capacity that he has become the subject of a Congressional investigation.

U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California and chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, called for the investigation following a July 13 article in London’s The Sunday Times that claimed Payne—in a sting operation organized by the newspaper—sought a large financial donation from the former president of Kyrgyzstan. The donation would be for the forthcoming George W. Bush Presidential Center to be built at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. In return, according to the article, Payne could arrange a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney and other officials.

In a July 14 letter to the lobbyist, Waxman asked Payne to provide details about his relationship with the library and about the solicitations he may have made.

“If true, this report raises serious concerns about the ways in which foreign interests might be secretly influencing our government through large donations to the library,” Waxman said of the newspaper’s report.

Following the Times article, Payne issued a statement denying any wrongdoing and questioning the newspaper’s methods.

“The paper and its employees, not content with merely reporting news, have instead opted to manufacture the news in this worst-case example of ‘Gotcha Journalism,’” Payne said in the statement.

Payne, who lobbied U.S. officials on Latvia’s behalf as it sought membership in the NATO defense alliance, became honorary consul in 1999. In 2004, he was awarded the Order of Three Stars, Third Class, Latvia’s highest civilian honor. Payne also is on the board of directors of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S.-Baltic Foundation.

Payne was not available for comment when his office was contacted Aug. 12.

Latvia also has honorary consuls serving Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Buffalo, New York City, Florida, California, Pennsylvania and Washington state. Honorary consuls do not perform consular duties, such as operating a consular register, but may represent Latvia in various events.

Andris Straumanis is editor of Latvians Online.

Post a comment about this article

Comments are limited to 2,500 characters. Avoid foul language and libelous statements. Don't post commercial messages or material copyrighted by others. Comments are moderated and will be posted after review. Those deemed inappropriate or off-topic will be deleted without notification. For questions or queries, contact us.

Name (required):

E-mail (required, but not published):

Comment:

Enter the word you see in the image above: