Dubai company hires Bob Dole to lobby for port deal

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Dubai-based company at the center of a controversy over the management of six U.S. seaports has hired former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole to lobby on its behalf against bipartisan criticism of the deal, a Dole aide said Wednesday.


The 1996 Republican presidential candidate was "engaged" by Dubai Ports World shortly after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle began expressing their strong opposition to the deal, said Mike Galloway, an aide to the retired senator.

He is considered a GOP elder statesman, and his wife, Elizabeth, now represents North Carolina in the Senate.

Dole is a special counsel in the Washington office of the law firm Alston & Bird. DP World hired the firm in 2005 to help shepherd its purchase of the British-based firm Peninsular and Oriental, which currently manages the U.S. ports, Galloway said. --From CNN Correspondent Andrea Koppel (Posted 2:43 p.m.)