Bhutto’s party, the Pakistan People’s Party, has been represented by Burson-Marsteller and its affiliates, including BKSH & Associates and polling firm Penn, Schoen, Berland & Associates, since last January. Registrations filed with the Department of Justice last year show the party agreed to pay a one-time fee of $75,000 for polling services, along with $28,500 per month for other services. Among the companies’ duties: coordinating meetings for Prime Minister Bhutto with U.S. officials. No one at Burston-Marsteller could be reached for comment on Bhutto’s assassination Thursday.
The turmoil in Pakistan has already had fallout on K Street. Cassidy & Associates withdrew from a $1.2 million contract with Pakistan’s government last month, after President Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule. Read Legal Times‘ story about that here. The embassy still has a $55,000 per month contract with Van Scoyoc Associates, led by Mark Tavlarides.
