Following a damaging Associated Press report [3] that Blackwater Worldwide [4] "repaired and repainted its trucks immediately after a deadly September shooting in Baghdad, making it difficult to determine whether enemy gunfire provoked the attack," the private military company [5] has hired more lobbyists [6]. The firm Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice [7] will serve as Blackwater's "D.C. representative for contracting and acquisition issues," reports O'Dwyer's. Lobbyists working for Blackwater include Jimmy Broughton, who was former Senator Jesse Helms [8]'s chief of staff; Mark Harkins, who worked for Representative Brad Miller [9]; and Kevin Jones, who worked for former Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen [10]. Lobbyists.info also lists C&M Capitolink and Gregory F. Hahn among Blackwater's lobbying firms. Regarding the truck repairs, a Blackwater spokesperson said they "would have been done at the government's direction," perhaps referring to an obligation under the firm's contract with the State Department [11] that it maintain its own vehicles. Blackwater has received more than $1 billion in federal contracts since 2001.