Saddam Hussein’s consultant threw a lavish farewell party for Arizona Democratic gubernatorial candidate Fred DuVal when DuVal left his career in the Clinton administration in 2001 to move to Arizona.
Lobbyist and notorious Washington insider Edward J. von Kloberg III, who died in 2005, served as a public affairs consultant for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, longtime Congo dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, and the late authoritarian Liberian president Samuel K. Doe among other world leaders that von Kloberg called “the damned” or “the impossible” to represent. Von Kloberg was rumored to be attempting to sign up North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il in 2001.
“Shame is for sissies,” von Kloberg said of his business practices.
DuVal apparently felt no shame in being the guest of honor at a von Kloberg party, or in accepting praise from von Kloberg, when DuVal left the nation’s capital for Arizona after serving in Bill Clinton’s White House and State Department.
“Mr. Von Kloberg’s double penthouse on Cathedral Avenue NW was filled Wednesday night when about 150 guests stopped by to wish Mr. DuVal well as he departs for Arizona,” the Washington Times reported on June 1, 2001. “It all was impressive, even for members of the diplomatic corps, most of whom certainly have seen their fill of ribbon-and-medal honor ceremonies.”
Von Kloberg reportedly said in remarks at the party that DuVal “arrived with the idealistic notion that what we do here really matters” and that DuVal’s “idealism still burns brightly.”
He greeted party guests while “Donning black slippers embroidered with a devil holding a pitchfork,” the Washington Diplomat reported.
“Through Fred’s work at the State Department he occasionally encountered Mr. Von Kloberg, who was known as a shameless self-promoter within the Washington diplomatic corps, at diplomatic receptions and events,” DuVal campaign spokesman Geoff Vetter explained to The Daily Caller, calling their association an “acquaintanceship” and criticism of their relationship a “smear.”
DuVal is currently locked in a dead-heat race with Republican Doug Ducey for the governorship in November.