"One month before the White House finished negotiations with the Colombian government on a free trade deal, a Republican-leaning organization began working with Black members of Congress on a project in the South American country," Kevin Bogardus and Ian Swanson of The Hill newspaper write in the article "Courting the Black caucus in Colombia."

"The International Republican Institute's (IRI) goal was to establish a counterpart in Colombia to Congress's own Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). But it was also talking with a group that could potentially swing the controversial trade deal in Washington.

"The IRI's board members and staff are mostly Republican, and it generally works with GOP offices, but in this case it reached out to Democratic offices, and even paid for some staffers to go to Colombia.

"Officials with the group said the effort was intended to help a historically disenfranchised group, and not to build support in the U.S. for the trade deal, a top priority for President Bush that has been blocked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)."