WASHINGTON - — WASHINGTON - -Former Rep. Albert R. Wynn's first client as a registered lobbyist is a unit of a Finnish company that has been sharply criticized by human-rights advocates for its work in Sudan, according to a recently filed disclosure report.
The Maryland Democrat quit his House seat last year, months before his term was up, in order to join a powerful Washington lobbying firm. The early departure gave Wynn a head start on an ethics law that requires members of Congress to wait one full year after leaving office before they begin lobbying their former colleagues.
Wynn's first lobbying registration disclosure, dated June 30, lists his client as Wartsila North America Inc. of Houston, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wartsila Oyj, a global engineering company. The Helsinki company has been targeted by corporate responsibility and human rights groups over its activities in the African nation of Sudan, whose government has been widely criticized for violence against civilians in its Darfur region.
In April, Rep. Donna Edwards of Maryland, who defeated Wynn in last year's Democratic primary, was one of five members of Congress arrested at a Darfur protest rally outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington. Wynn spoke out against genocide in Darfur while in Congress and took part in similar protest rallies in 2004 and 2006.
Wynn, reached by phone Monday afternoon at his office at Dickstein Shapiro LLP, sounded taken aback when asked about his client's activities in Sudan.
"I'm sorry. You caught me right in the middle of something," Wynn replied after a moment and said he would call back.
Later, a firm spokeswoman, Michelle Rodgers, said in an e-mailed statement that Wynn anticipates lobbying on Wartsila's behalf but that, "to date, he has made no contact at the congressional" level.
The written statement appeared designed to head off questions about whether Wynn might have already violated a federal law that makes it a crime for a former U.S. representative to lobby a member of Congress within one year after he leaves office.
Wynn's registration as a lobbyist carries an effective date of May 18, 2009, which is less than a year after his announced resignation date of May 31, 2008.
For years, Wartsila's activities in Sudan have been the subject of a divestment campaign. The Sudan Divestment Task Force, a project started by the Genocide Intervention Network, has listed Wartsila among the worst offenders. Foreign companies, including Wartsila, help the Sudanese government exploit its petroleum resources, which is only possible with outside help, activists say.
