McCain fund-raiser lobbied for Saudis

A top fund-raiser for the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. John McCain lobbied for Saudi Arabia.Tom Loeffler, a former Republican congressman from Texas, heads a major lobbying outfit, the Loeffler Group, and was a top fund-raiser for President Bush. This year Loeffler announced his allegiance to McCain (R-Ariz.).Loeffler lobbied in Washington for Saudi Arabia’s entry into the World Trade Organization. All WTO members must agree to a new entry, and the United States and Israel ended their opposition to the Saudi accession in November 2005 once the Saudis agreed to end their boycott activism against Israel.Since then, however, Saudi boycott activity has not relented, according to pro-Israel groups.The Democratic National Committee is circulating the information about Loeffler. Spokesmen for McCain, who backed Israel’s conditions for the Saudi accession to WTO, did not return calls seeking comment.