GOP convention leader quits, citing Myanmar ties

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The man picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention resigned Saturday after a report that his lobbying firm used to represent the military regime in Myanmar.

Doug Goodyear resigned as convention coordinator, saying, "Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign."

Goodyear, chief executive of lobbying firm DCI Group, resigned a few hours after Newsweek posted a story online that the company was paid $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to represent the government in Myanmar, also called Burma.

Earlier this month, Cyclone Nargis left more than 60,000 people dead or missing in Myanmar, and the United Nations estimates at least 1.5 million people have been severely affected. Human-rights groups have accused the government of neglecting disaster victims and blocking relief supplies.

Newsweek said the firm drafted news releases praising Burma's efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing claims by the Bush administration that the government engaged in rape and other abuses.