Dubai Hires Viagra Pitchman; Wife Concerned

Bob Dole consults for Dubai company
Deal concerns Sen. Elizabeth Dole
Barbara Barrett, Washington Correspondent - Feb. 23, 2006

North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole's husband, former Sen. Bob Dole, has
been hired by Dubai Ports World to help shepherd the company through a $6.8
billion deal to control terminals at six U.S. ports. Despite her husband's
work for Dubai, Elizabeth Dole wrote in a letter Wednesday that she is
concerned about turning port operations over to a Middle Eastern company.

"I am deeply concerned that the proposed transfer of seaport operations to a
company controlled by the United Arab Emirates government might compromise
our ability to effectively control our ports and harbors," Dole wrote in a
letter to Sen. John Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, of which she is a member.

The committee is planning
to receive a briefing today in Washington on the controversial ports deal,
but Dole, a Salisbury, N.C., Republican, will miss it because of a previous
engagement in Kannapolis. Dole's spokeswoman said the senator will not be
swayed by her
husband's work.

"Sen. Elizabeth Dole's decisions are made independent of
Bob Dole," spokeswoman Lindsay Taylor Mabry said. "And her top priority
always is the constituents she represents." Mabry said she didn't know how
long Elizabeth Dole had known about her husband's consulting for Dubai Ports
World.

Bob Dole, a registered lobbyist, former senator from Kansas and
GOP presidential candidate, is among a team of lawyers at the Washington law
firm Alston & Bird that has been working with Dubai Ports World. Dubai Ports
World is owned by the United Arab Emirates. CNN reported Wednesday that
the company hired the law firm in 2005. A call to the firm, which also has
an office in Raleigh, was not immediately returned. In her letter, Dole
did not outright oppose the Dubai deal, but she said Congress should take a
hard look at it. "I do not believe that a transaction of this importance
should be finalized until the Administration and the Congress have had an
opportunity to
thoroughly examine, understand, and resolve these concerns," she wrote.

There has been a bipartisan congressional backlash this week against the
Bush administration's approval of a pending deal to sell operations at six
ports to Dubai Ports World. Bush said Wednesday that he had no knowledge
of the deal before his administration approved it. He also threatened this
week to veto any legislation from Congress to overturn the sale.

The deal
would allow Dubai Ports World to operate ports in New York, New Jersey,
Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. They are now operated by a
British company. The United Arab Emirates served as a staging ground for
some of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists. Some in Congress say they've been
inundated with calls and e-mail messages from constituents objecting to the
plan.

Washington correspondent Barbara Barrett can be reached at (202) 383-0012
or bbarrett@mcclatchydc.com.