Coats' lobbying record still confusing

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - GOP Senate candidate Dan Coats says he's not embarrassed of any client he had as a Washington lobbyist. But he also says he didn't represent dozens of companies and foreign governments publicly identified as his clients.

A weekend disclosure by Coats did nothing to change the attacks by Democrats. The disclosure involved more than 800 pages of documents related to the work Dan Coats did as a lobbyist. He says it clears the air.

Democrats say it is intended to confuse the issue.

Dan Coats campaigned at Purdue University today telling reporters that questions about his lobbying ties have all been answered. "Everything that I have done is fully available to everyone," said Coats. "It's fully made public." Public maybe, but it's not clear.

Among the documents are some that list Coats as a lobbyist for organizations, including Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, when he says others at his firm did the work. He says the firm, King and Spalding, listed his name erroneously in what he calls an "overabundance of caution."

State Democratic Chairman Dan Parker says that's an effort to revise history. "So it's his credibility versus his lobbying firm," says Parker. "It's not us misrepresenting what he has done. It's what his lobbying firm put out there for the world to see."

Documents from another lobbying firm show that Coats is not listed as a lobbyist for 41 mostly controversial companies that include Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America.

Coats is listed as a lobbyist for all 41 by the clerk of the U.S. Senate. He says that's a technical error and charges by Democrats that he lobbied for Wall Street firms are "offensive."

"If you can't defend what you're voting for, can't defend what you stand for, then it's sort of go after the reputation and character of the other person," he says.

Among the organizations that Coats admits lobbying for is Junior Achievement.

The Democrats says they will continue to attack Coats for his lobbying on websites including lobbyistdancoats.com. They say none of the documents matter because Coats was the Co-chair of the Public Affairs practice at his last law firm and, therefore, responsible for all of the clients.

Coats says it was a meaningless title and that he was a part-time employee, despite his salary of more than half a million dollars.

The bottom line is that this disclosure did nothing to make the issue go away.