Doug Goodyear resigned as coordinator of the St. Paul convention and issued this statement: "Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign."

Goodyear, chief executive of the DCI Group lobbying firm, resigned a few hours after Newsweek posted online a story that the company was paid $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to represent Myanmar's junta.

Cyclone Nargis left more than 60,000 people dead or missing, and the United Nations estimates that at least 1.5 million people have been severely affected. Human-rights organizations and dissident groups have bitterly accused the junta of neglecting disaster victims and blocking foreign donations of relief supplies.

Newsweek said DCI had drafted news releases praising Myanmar's efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing assertions by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses.