Top Jeb Bush Adviser Vin Weber Signs On to Lobby for Anti-Gay Uganda Government

Uganda hired Mercury Public Affairs, Weber’s firm, for a $50,000 per month retainer with Weber as the only registered lobbyist on the account. The contract calls for Mercury to provide general “lobbying services” as well as communication services to promote trade and investment opportunities in Uganda.

Weber joined the Bush campaign effort in February as an outside adviser. According to the Washington Post, Weber has worked behind the scenes to develop ties between Bush and major donors and conservative leaders. He told the Post in June that he intends to “coordinate policy” for the campaign.
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The anti-LGBT laws proposed in Uganda have found support from some religious right figures in the American conservative movement. According to journalist Jeff Sharlet, Ugandan politician David Bahati, the sponsor of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, is a member of a conservative Christian organization known as The Family, whose members include Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Ok., Jim DeMint, and Tom Coburn.

Religious right figures Bryan Fischer and Lou Engle have also provided praised the effort. (Notably, Hillary Clinton is one of a very small group of Democrats to attend private Capitol Hill prayer services organized by The Family.)

Top Jeb Bush Adviser Vin Weber Signs On to Lobby for Anti-Gay Uganda Government