McCain Finance Chair Quits After Making Under The Table Payments To Finance Director

Newsweek:

Stung by the news that two aides once lobbied for the Burmese junta, John McCain last week rolled out a sweeping new conflict-of-interest policy for his campaign, requiring all staffers to fill out questionnaires identifying past or current clients that "could be embarrassing for the senator." Aides say that McCain was furious over the Burma connection (which he learned from a NEWSWEEK story) and was "adamant" about banning campaign workers from serving as foreign agents or getting paid for lobbying work.

But the fallout may not be over. One top campaign official affected by the new policy is national finance co-chair Tom Loeffler, a former Texas congressman whose lobbying firm has collected nearly $15 million from Saudi Arabia since 2002 and millions more from other foreign and corporate interests, including a French aerospace firm seeking Pentagon contracts. Loeffler last month told a reporter "at no time have I discussed my clients with John McCain." But lobbying disclosure records reviewed by NEWSWEEK show that on May 17, 2006, Loeffler listed meeting McCain along with the Saudi ambassador to "discuss US-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia relations."

Another potential problem: Loeffler's firm started paying $15,000 a month last summer to one of its lobbyists, Susan Nelson, after she left to become McCain's full-time finance director, said a source familiar with the arrangement (who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters). Campaign officials were told the payments were "severance" for Nelson and that they ended by November. But in "February or March," Loeffler rehired Nelson as a consultant to "help him with his clients" while she continued on the McCain payroll, according to a campaign official who asked not to be identified talking about personnel matters. Federal election law prohibits any outside entity from subsidizing the income of campaign workers. McCain's officials say they have been assured that Nelson did actual work for Loeffler's lobbying clients--and that the payments were proper. But after NEWSWEEK posed questions about the matter, they confirmed Loeffler's resignation and the termination of Nelson's consulting contract. (Loeffler and Nelson did not respond to requests for comment.) Also last week, energy adviser Eric Burgeson was ousted.

Read the whole story: Newsweek

Comments

[Chris7982]

Old Man MCcain claims to be so ethical and the king of ethics reform and every day we find out that one of his advisors, staffers or aides are being exposed bn the PRESS...Th­er is no more TEFLON !!! Thank God they are seeing him for who he is...Doubl­e Talk Express, tied to Bushes HIP and marinated in LOBBYISTS.­..when will Black and DavisGo? This old Fool should find some grand children to spoil and leave the direction of the country to young, abled, intelligent, motivated and a strong leader to take us into a new direction.

[clint111]

Excellent judgment!

http://mrpredictor.wordpress.com/

[CallMeDeaconBlues]

AGAIN!

[Colmore]

Ah, yes. The straight talk express just hit a speed bump. What about Black, the lobbyists in charge of MCain's campaign? Lies, lies and more lies. Here we go again. What is it about republican politicians that they think the rules do not apply to them? McCain must have "forgotten" about the meeting he attended with the Saudis. By the way, aren't the Saudis the people who orchestrated 9/11? Should have invaded them, not Iraq.

[CallMeDeaconBlues]

You can't make this stuff up. God it sucks to be a conservative.

Can we have a primary redo?

[Mogamboguru]

We are not talking lobbying, we are talking bribery here. The McCain-campaign obviously is about to rout itself out, before the campaigning for the GE even has begun.

With such campaign-aides, how is McCain planning to beat Omaba in the fall, anyway? By pledging to the voters' mercy...? They are losers from the start. I feel pitty for them. But - NO MERCY!