The PR executive John McCain just tapped to help run the GOP convention quit today after a report that his firm once represented the Burmese junta that is now doing little to relieve its people from the devastation incurred by this week’s cyclone.



Doug Goodyear, CEO of the DCI Group, said in a statement issued by the convention committee that he was resigning “so as not to become a distraction in this campaign.”



Asked whether he made the decision to quit or was asked by the campaign, Goodyear said: "My decision."



"[It was] unambiguously the right thing to do," he said in an email to Politico.



In a piece posted online today, Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff reported that DCI represented Burma’s military regime in 2002.



DCI is a well-regarded firm in the Republican orbit, but has been known to represent some politically controversial clients.



Given McCain’s ardor for campaign finance reform and the number of lobbyists and PR gurus who comprise the senior ranks of his campaign, his aides are acutely sensitive to appearances.



Goodyear accepted the post just this past week.



[UPDATED WITH GOODYEAR COMMENT]

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