Updated: Bob Tyrer, Susan Collins and William Cohen

Image from WikipediaLONGTIME COHEN STRATEGIST TO MANAGE COLLINS' CAMPAIGN

Portland Press Herald - NewsBank - Sep 29, 1996
Excerpt:
"Most people in Maine don't know Bob Tyrer. But he is about to make his mark on the U.S. Senate race in Maine. For more than 20 years, Tyrer has worked quietly behind the scenes for retiring Sen. William Cohen. The 39-year-old Michigan native has served as Cohen's chief of staff and his top political strategist. He has set Cohen's agenda, managed his seven offices in Maine and Washington, influenced his key decisions..."

NO PROOF OFFERED THAT RIVALS SOUGHT 'DIRT' ON COLLINS A...

Portland Press Herald - NewsBank - Oct 15, 1996
Excerpt:
"Over the weekend, Collins complained that the Democratic Party hired a researcher to ``dig up dirt'' on her in the waning days of her close campaign against Joseph Brennan, her Democratic rival. But on Monday, Collins' campaign manager, Bob Tyrer,..."
See also:

Book Excerpt: Author Jean Hay Bright - A tale of dirty tricks so bizarre - Susan Collins v. Public Record

FAMILIAR BACKER FUNDS TRIP TO MALAYSIA BY COHEN, COLLINS

Portland Press Herald - NewsBank - Nov 24, 1996
Excerpt:
"Topping the political news: Inquiring minds have asked, so inquiring minds shall know: Who footed the bill to send retiring Sen. William Cohen and Sen.-elect Susan Collins to Malaysia last week? The answer: A private group in Washington called the Asia Pacific Policy Center."
See also:

United States Senator Susan M. Collins :: About Senator Collins

http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=AboutSenatorCollins.Biography
Excerpt:
"After working for 12 years on the Capitol Hill staff of Maine Senator William Cohen..."

FORMER STAFF MEMBERS FOLLOWING COHEN TO THE PENTAGON

Portland Press Herald - NewsBank - Dec 22, 1996
Excerpt:
"Assuming Cohen wins confirmation by the Senate, Bob Tyrer will serve as his chief of staff. The 39-year-old Tyrer has worked with Cohen for more than 20 years. A native of Ohio, he graduated from the University of Maine in 1987. Since 1989, he has served as Cohen's chief of staff in the Senate."

The Washington Post Delves into the Cohen Group (William Cohen) in Five Page (Length Online) Article

Excerpt:
"Tyrer, who was Cohen's chief of staff at the Pentagon, added: "It does not strike us as illogical that Secretary Cohen and others at The Cohen Group would continue to be involved in their business careers in issues that they have worked hard on and felt strongly about during their public careers." Tyrer said the firm has been willing "to turn away work that might raise even the faintest ethical or reputational concern.""

Google News: Bob Tyrer Susan Collins William Cohen
http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=Bob+Tyrer+Susan+Collins+William+Cohen&btnG=Search+Archives&hl=en&ned=us&as_ldate=1995&as_hdate=2008

The Washington Post Delves into the Cohen Group (William Cohen) in Five Page (Length Online) Article

Also:
August 12, 2007, The Washington Post
What Is This Man Thinking?
By Secretary William Cohen
http://www.cohengroup.net/news/op_ed/op_ed081207.cfm

Alex: This article is from 2006, but I could not find any history of it being covered in the Maine mainstream media (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=The+Washington+Post+The+Cohen+Group+William+Cohen&btnG=Google+Search and
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Maine+From+Public+Life+to+Private+Business+-+washingtonpost.com+William+Cohen+The+Cohen+Group&btnG=Google+Search) despite it being a page A01 Washington Post (5 pages online) story (perhaps they are no longer indexed or beyond first page of search results).

The Washington Post Delves into the Cohen Group (William Cohen) in Five Page (Length Online) Article
From Public Life to Private Business - washingtonpost.com - Former Pentagon Chief Cohen's Firm Serves Defense Contractors
"Sunday, May 28, 2006; Page A01"
Excerpt:
"After more than 30 years in politics, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen was saddled with credit card debt.

The baker's son from Bangor, Maine, was never wealthy, and his government salary went only so far. When the motorcades and military escorts ended in January 2001, his final financial disclosure form listed tens of thousands of dollars of charge-account debts at interest rates as high as about 25 percent.

Within weeks of leaving office, he was living in a $3.5 million McLean mansion with a swimming pool, a cabana and a carriage house.

Cohen's career had entered a classic final phase: the monetizing of the public man.

Instead of returning to Maine, which he had represented in the House and Senate for more than two decades, Cohen followed legions of government officials into the business of consulting and lobbying. Trading on an insider's knowledge, contacts and personal cachet, the former defense secretary created his own Washington firm, the Cohen Group , which works for some of the biggest companies in the defense industry....

Tyrer, who was Cohen's chief of staff at the Pentagon, added: "It does not strike us as illogical that Secretary Cohen and others at The Cohen Group would continue to be involved in their business careers in issues that they have worked hard on and felt strongly about during their public careers." Tyrer said the firm has been willing "to turn away work that might raise even the faintest ethical or reputational concern."

Tyrer and other members of the firm generally declined to discuss their activities in detail because, they said, clients wanted confidentiality....

"There is a competitive spirit in my soul," the former college basketball player said. "And I've been competing, it seems, almost from time immemorial.

"There are times I say, why am I doing this, at this pace, and yet, that's just who I am."...

Nonetheless, there is overlap between Cohen's government and business careers.

In December 2000, shortly before Cohen left office, the Pentagon awarded Iridium Satellite LLC a $72 million contract , without competitive bidding, that helped save the company's communications satellites from destruction. David R. Oliver Jr., who was a senior procurement official at the time, said that he and Cohen were the Pentagon's principal advocates for the Iridium deal.

Over the past two years, Iridium has paid the Cohen Group about $400,000 to lobby the House, Senate and Department of Defense, according to lobbying disclosure statements.

"Several months after Secretary Cohen left office, The Cohen Group was contacted by the Chairman of Iridium to assist with marketing to several government agencies including DoD, as well as foreign governments," Tyrer said in writing. "Obviously, we had no such discussions while in office."...

Though Cohen co-sponsored the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, which said "responsible representative Government requires public awareness of the efforts of paid lobbyists to influence the public decisionmaking process," the firm's lobbying disclosures are sometimes vague.

For example, the firm has lobbied the Defense Department and the now dismantled Coalition Provisional Authority on behalf of Nour USA Ltd., a local company that has won contracts potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars to provide security and to equip forces in Iraq. The National Journal quoted a Nour executive as saying the Cohen Group "introduced us to people in the U.S. government who were involved in oil-industry security."

Where the government disclosure form asks it to identify "Specific lobbying issues," the Cohen Group's filings on Nour say: "Exploring overseas business opportunities.""

My Interview With William Cohen - By Alex Hammer

My interview should actually be called an "interview", as detailed below.

First some press coverage of the day's events:

From the Event Program:
"University of Maine - Tenth Anniversary Celebration - In 1997 the William S. Cohen Papers were donated to the University of Maine and the William S. Cohen Lecture Series was established. - October 5, 2007 - William S. Cohen Center for International Policy & Commerce - William S. Cohen Papers Raymond H. Fogler Library...

William S. Cohen Papers Raymond H. Fogler Library - Presents - Watergate: A Conversation with Secretary William S. Cohen and Journalist Bob Woodward - 2:00 p.m....

William S. Cohen Center for International Policy & Commerce - Presents - The 2007 William S. Cohen Lecture - State of Denial: The Inside Story on the War in Iraq - 7:00 p.m....

Introduction of 2007 Cohen Lecturer - Secretary William S. Cohen -
Lecture - Bob Woodward, Assistant Managing Editor, The Washington Post...

Previous Cohen Lectures -
Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen (1998)
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (1999)
Senator John Glenn (2001)
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (2003)
Dan Rather, CBS News (2005)

And here is some of the Maine media press coverage of the events:

Cohen reflects on Nixon, Watergate years - Kennebec Journal
Excerpt:
"Former U.S. Rep. William Cohen of Maine, who played a key role in the impeachment hearings of President Nixon, said he was sitting in Lewiston watching a hockey game when he realized his early years as a congressman would be largely shaped by the Watergate scandal."

Woodward criticizes Bush in speech at UM - Bangor Daily News
Excerpt:
"Acclaimed journalist and Washington insider Bob Woodward targeted the leadership of the Bush Administration on Friday, saying the president and top officials mishandled the lead-up to war and continue to be in denial about the dire situation in Iraq.

Woodward told a packed house at the University of Maine that, based on his hours of interviews with Bush, he believes the president feels a strong idealistic "duty" to spread democracy to other nations and to end tyranny.

But Woodward suggested that the president and other top officials have allowed that idealism and zeal to cloud their recognition of the stark realities in Iraq. As a result, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have been unwilling to change course in Iraq."

Introduction:

Friday was my first opportunity hearing former Defense Secretary and Senator William Cohen speak in person, much less to meet him. Of course he is a Maine political legend, as he should be. His comments in the conversation with Bob Woodward were phenomenal. I've heard a fair amount of accomplished and polished public figures and speakers in my life, but not a single one better than him.

My impressions were of a very warm and engaging individual with a superior intellectual gift accompanied by immense knowledge (I know that sounds like a lot, but it's true).

After the afternoon event (and before the evening one) I was fortunate to be at the press conference limited to a small number of journalists. During that event I was personally able to ask Senator Cohen a single question (along with Bob Woodward, who was also present). Trying to touch on the Senator's Maine background I asked him about what today's event meant to him personally in the context of his history and activities in Maine and overall.

As my notetaking ability is slower than his ability to answer the question I won't attempt direct quotes but will summarize:

Senator Cohen indicated that he and Bob Woodward have known each other since 1974 and that today's event, and the plane ride to it, provided a unique opportunity for the two of them to review Watergate, that in the past they had always been looking forward and that today now provided the opportunity to look back.

Although brief, it was a lot of fun to meet and pose an interview question to former Defense Secretary and Senator Cohen, and if you're out there Senator Cohen somewhere reading this somewhere, I'm ready for my next question!

Excerpt from the Program:
"Secretary William S. Cohen - For 24 years Secretary Cohen represented Maine in the United States Congress... A three-term U.S. Senator (1979-1997), Secretary of Cohen chaired the Armed Services Committee's oversight of tens of billions of acquisition dollars for naval vessels and U.S. security policy in East Asia, the Middle East and the Persian Gult...William S. Cohen served as Secretary of Defense during the second Clinton administration. It was the first time in modern U.S. history a president named an elected official from the opposition party to a cabinet position...Currently the Chairman and CEO of The Coohen Group, a Washington-based firm providing international consulting services, Secretary Cohen has served on several national boards and sutdy committees including the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Brookings Institute, Empower America, and CBS Corporation. A published author of eleven works of nonfiction, fiction and poetry..."

William Cohen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William S. Cohen Papers at the Raymond H. Fogler Library

The Cohen Group

SecDef Histories - William Cohen