The Obama administration has signaled a new effort to partner with the Saudi Arabian government as its key ally in the region against the Sunni militia group in Syria and Iraq known as the Islamic State (ISIS), dispatching Secretary of State John Kerry to Jeddah for a heavily symbolic meeting with the Saudi king on the September 11 anniversary this fall.

At the same time, however, Washington remains saturated with Saudi money and the influence it buys, even as the US economy's dependence on imports of Saudi crude oil has waned.

The Saudi lobbying presence manifests itself in a variety of ways.

Disclosures show that the latest addition to the Saudi government payroll includes former US Senator Norm Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota who leads one of the largest Super PACs in the country.

Many influential nonprofits in Washington have relied upon Saudi government support. The confirmation hearing for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel revealed that the Atlantic Council, a think tank that advises lawmakers on foreign policy, received contributions from Saudi Arabia among other foreign governments. (Such legally and ethically questionable financial relationships between think tanks and foreign governments were scrutinized in a lengthy New York Times exposé on September 6, 2014, and there is now a move afoot to require disclosure of such ties for Congressional testimony.) Hagel previously served as chairman to the organization. The Saudi government has also provided funds to what is now known as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the Middle East Policy Council, the Middle East Institute and the Smithsonian Freer Museum of Art.

Several organizations connected to the Kingdom play an active role in policy debates. Khalid Alnaji , a registered agent of the Saudi government and president of the U.S. subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian national oil company ARAMCO, sits on the board of the American Petroleum Institute, the powerful lobby group that funds several conservative nonprofits and sponsors election-season television advertisements. On September 17, the former Ambassador Robert Ford, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the need to arm Syrian rebel groups.

Throughout the years, Saudi Arabia has retained numerous law and lobbying firms to influence American public opinion and policy.

The contract to work with Coleman was registered in July through Hogan Lovells, a law firm where Coleman has worked since 2011 after being defeated in his reelection campaign in 2008.

In addition to Hogan Lovells, the Saudi government counts several other firms, including Squire Patton Boggs and Qorvis-MSLGROUP, as part of its lobbying operation. As Al-Monitor reported, the Saudi Kingdom's relationship with "Qorvis dates back to 2001, when then-Saudi Ambassador Bandar bin Sultan inked a $3.2 million deal for an image makeover after 'favorability toward Saudi Arabia … declined significantly' among 'Washington insiders' in the wake of the terror attacks."

Qorvis-MSLGROUP's latest disclosure reveals that the firm has suggested story ideas to the Weekly Standard and NPR, and pitched other interviews on behalf of the Saudi government. The disclosure also shows that the Saudi Embassy, through Qorvis-MSLGROUP, manages the Twitter account @SyrCoalition, which is touted as the "official" voice of the Syrian opposition to Bashar al-Assad.

What's notable about the hiring of Coleman is that he appears to be the first leader of a significant Super PAC to simultaneously lobby for a foreign government.

Coleman is the chairman of two groups that have channeled big money into congressional races this year, the American Action Network and the Congressional Leadership Fund. The committees have aired ads in a number of races, and according to a report last week in Politico, the pair will spend over $8.1 million this fall on ten different congressional races to boost Republican candidates. The American Action Network is a 501(c)4 nonprofit, meaning it can engage in election activity without disclosing its donors, while the Congressional Leadership Fund is a registered Super PAC. If the groups make good on their promise to spend over $8 million, they would rank among the top three largest Super PACs in the country this campaign cycle.

Although lobbyists for domestic corporate and union interests have helmed Super PACs and big spending efforts in the past, Coleman's dual role as a Saudi lobbyist and a leader of the twin campaign entities appears unprecedented.

"Regrettably, even former lawmakers serving as hired guns for foreign governments is not unusual. But this is the first I've heard of a revolver serving both on the lobbying side for a foreign government and running a domestic campaign spending operation through a super PAC and dark money nonprofit group, which are not supposed to receive or spend foreign money in our elections," said Craig Holman, a lobbying expert with Public Citizen, in an e-mail to The Nation. "This type of comingling of roles is ripe for abuse and is most difficult to monitor," he added.

In March of this year, Hogan Lovells, which maintains longstanding ties to the Saudi government, renewed its annual contract with the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia for a retainer of $60,000 per month. Four months later, Hogan Lovells filed a form with the Department of Justice, which administers the foreign lobbying registration system, to notify the agency that Coleman would be "providing legal services to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia" on issues including "policy developments involving Iran."

The firm is also involved in responding to the upheaval in Syria. According to disclosures filed by the firm, Hogan Lovells arranged meetings on behalf of their Saudi clients with the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Congressman Ed Royce, to discuss "Middle East peace issues regarding Syria, Iran, etc." The documents disclosed by Hogan Lovells make clear the firm engages in a broad array of foreign policy matters on behalf of the embassy, including "advice on legislative, regulatory and public policy activities of interest."

Saudi Arabia's interests in the region include the sectarian-motivated campaign of countering the rise of Shiite power. In 2011, Saudi Arabia dispatched soldiers to put down protesting Shiite demonstrators in neighboring Bahrain. With the civil war in Syria, the closest ally to Shiite Iran, Saudi Arabia became the largest supplier of weapons to Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Tags: investigative journalism, investigative reporting, isis, lobbying, money in politics, saudi arabia, washington