With a sweeping revision to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) passing the House today -- in a version including near-certain immunity for telephone companies that aided President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program after Sept. 11 -- reporters immediately started wondering whether Barack Obama supported the compromise measure backed by almost half of the House's Democrats and virtually all Republicans. (He does, though it took a while for his campaign to get the word out. On a conference call this afternoon, an Obama adviser said he'd "better check" on the Illinois Democrat's stance on FISA).
By contrast, the views of Obama's general election opponent were more immediately clear cut. But so were those of two key aides to John McCain -- both his senior political adviser and national finance co-chairman -- who it turns out were key participants in what was in 2007 described as a "secret" campaign to secure retroactive immunity for those companies that helped the Bush administration skirt the law.
As Newsweek's Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff reported in September 2007:
"The nation's biggest telecommunications companies, working closely with the White House, have mounted a secretive lobbying campaign to get Congress to quickly approve a measure wiping out all private lawsuits against them for assisting the U.S. intelligence community's warrantless surveillance programs. ...
"Among the players, these sources said: powerhouse Republican lobbyists Charlie Black and Wayne Berman (who represent AT&T and Verizon, respectively) ... "
What makes that report of interest is the fact that, by the time of Newsweek's reporting on the lobbying activities of Black and Berman, both men were already serving in official capacities in the presidential campaign of John McCain, who has since been fighting the perception that his campaign is unduly influenced by lobbyists.
The Boston Globe described Berman as "a senior McCain adviser" in April 2007, while the New York Times cited Black's role in the campaign in July of that year -- both press mentions coming months before Newsweek's description of an active role for both men in the secret lobbying effort on behalf of the telecom industry.
According to a Campaign Money Watch survey, the employees and PACs of telecom companies have contributed over $630,000 to McCain's presidential campaign thus far. McCain also holds a critical seat on the commerce committee that reviews matters of interest to that industry. (The Washington Post has also reported about Black making calls on behalf of his corporate clients from McCain's campaign bus.)
And while McCain once responded to a CNet survey on the issue of telecom immunity by saying that "if retroactive immunity passes, it should be done with explicit statements that this is not a blessing, there should be oversight hearings to understand what happened," he has stayed relatively mum on such matters since voting for the Senate version of the immunity bill in February, with his office even refusing comment on the reasons for McCain's "yay" vote.
But if McCain hopes to preserve his incorruptible image -- he told the AP in 2007 "I've never done any favors for anybody -- lobbyist or special interest group" -- those are questions he may have to start answering.