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Washington, D.C., lobbyist Nancy P. Dorn

he worked as a lobbyist for Coastal Corporation, the Houston oil firm owned by the flamboyant and often controversial Oscar Wyatt.

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Speaker appoints top China lobbyist
Hastert's national security adviser 'Li Ka-shing's person in Washington'

By Kenneth R. Timmerman and Charles Smith
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

House Speaker Dennis Hastert has named a lobbyist for Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing as his top national security and foreign policy adviser, a move that has made some top House Republicans angry and left others bewildered.

A low-key lawmaker known for avoiding controversy, Hastert's appointment of Washington, D.C., lobbyist Nancy P. Dorn seemed out of character.

"I can't believe he knew of this person's background," Maryland Republican Roscoe Bartlett told WorldNetDaily.com. Bartlett is a leading member of the House National Security Committee.

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Dorn, 41, briefly served in the Reagan administration, and won a Schedule C. political appointment under President George Bush as Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), a position she held from 1991-1993. After leaving the administration, she worked as a lobbyist for Coastal Corporation, the Houston oil firm owned by the flamboyant and often controversial Oscar Wyatt.

In 1995, when Dorn was working for Coastal, Wyatt reportedly wrote to President Clinton threatening to move Coastal Corp. headquarters offshore if the United States enacted a trade embargo against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Coastal had become a major purchaser of Iranian crude until the White House imposed the embargo in April 1995.

"Nancy came to us highly recommended," Hastert spokesman John Feehery told WND. "We have nothing but the highest regard for her professional abilities. She is highly qualified for the job." In particular, he said, she "helped get funding for the contras in Nicaragua" during the Reagan administration, "so she is a firm anti-Communist."

Feehery added that Speaker Hastert "knew she was a lobbyist," but said that Hastert "had no specific knowledge" of her ties to Hutchison Port Holdings or to Li Ka-shing. Feehery's explanation didn't hold water with some fellow Republicans.

"Here is a person who will be the Speaker's representative to the Intelligence Committee," one irate Republican staffer told WND. "She will have access to operational matters, and can in effect task the intelligence community to do anything. And until yesterday, she has been Li Ka-shing's person in Washington."

Hastert announced Dorn's appointment on July 13. She replaces Bill Inglee as the speaker's senior advisor for foreign policy and defense matters, a key position within the Republican leadership. Dorn will be leaving a lucrative Washington practice with the law firm of Hooper, Owen & Winfield, for a lesser-paid job in Congress, where she can be fired at will. Accepting a dramatic pay cut of this size typically suggests a political motivation, of else an ulterior financial interest in traveling the wrong way through Washington's revolving door.

The Washington Representatives 2000 yearbook lists Dorn as servicing a long list of lucrative accounts, including the AFL-CIO, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, ANR Pipeline Co., the Construction management Association of America, Gary-Williams Energy Corp., the National Cable Television Association, PanAmSat Corp., Waste Management and the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America.

"That's a powerful client list," said fellow Washington lobbyist Bonny Stilwell. Dorn also represented the governments of oil-rich Kazakhstan, and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, lucrative and often difficult accounts.