To defend Colombia [3]'s "scandal-tainted government before a skeptical [U.S.] Congress," and to "revive an important trade deal and maintain a strong military aid package," the administration of President Alvaro Uribe has hired a Democratic Party-associated U.S. lobbying firm, for $40,000 a month. The Glover Park Group [4] firm's "founders include former Clinton [5] White House spokesman Joe Lockhart [6]." Neither the firm nor the Colombian government would comment on the contract. Uribe met with President Bush and "more than a dozen Democrats" on May 2. Congressional Democrats are "refusing to ratify" a U.S.-Colombia free trade [7] deal, due to labor and human rights concerns. Uribe "has been dogged by accusations that close political allies backed and benefited from the murderous right-wing militias" in Colombia. "Eight pro-government lawmakers have already been arrested." Last month, Sen. Patrick Leahy [8] (D.-Vt.) "froze $55 million in aid to Colombia's military over concerns about its human rights record."