Sex Doesn't Matter, Conflict of Interest Matters

Another day, yet another politician caught up in a sex scandal. This time it is Senator John McCain, who stands accused by the The New York Times of possibly indulging in an inappropriate relationship with a female lobbyist for the telecommunications industry almost a decade ago.

McCain and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, have both denied having an intimate relationship. But that's not the point of the expose, even though common sense says the rumored romance is what will give the scandal traction with the American public. After all, politicians are entitled to a private life, even if it is adulterous. What matters is if the relationship, even if it was unconsummated in the technical sense of the word, was used by either party for business gain. And that's where the story gets murky.

According to the Times, McCain, the former head of the Senate's commerce committee, took action on behalf of Iseman's clients on numerous occasions. Most notably, he wrote letters to the Federal Communications Commission on the behalf of one client, media mogul Lowell Paxon, an action that was considered so over the top even by Washington's notoriously loose standards that he received a public rebuke from the chair of the FCC for inappropriate interference. McCain later argued that he was simply trying to hasten the bureaucratic process.

The Washington Post has already advanced the Times' claims by pointing out that Iseman has frequently boasted of her closeness to McCain to other lobbyists. In his defense, McCain's staff claimed to the Times that the Senator had opposed or blocked other positions endorsed by the interests Iseman represents.

It's worth noting, however, that the folks most in a position to know what was up appeared quite concerned over what was going on. Acting more like neighborhood busy-bodies than paid staffers, McCain's top aides at the time banded together to block Iseman's access to the Senator's office. Eventually, they separately confronted both parties to the possible relationship, telling them to knock it off.

As the co-author of a book on how to handle workplace romance, I know there's no doubt that a CEO accused mixing business with pleasure in the same way as McCain would likely be jobless within days of discovery. The most recent head honcho to discover this sad truth was the now former head of the American Red Cross, Mark Everson, who got the boot late last year for getting a little too friendly with a Gulf Coast chapter chair. No actual work-related misbehavior was alleged, mind you. Just the appearance of conflict of interest was enough for the board of the American Red Cross to make the decision to permanently separate Everson from his paycheck.

As for McCain, let's not rush to judgment. Clearly more information will be coming out over the next several days and it's quite possible there's a lot of smoke but no fire here. In the meantime, remember this: Sex doesn't matter but conflict of interest sure does. No one should know this fact better than McCain, Mr. Straight Talk Express himself. Does the phrase Keating Five ring a bell, senator?

Comments

[joebhed]

I hope it's as simple as it seems.
A Committee Chair and a lobbyist having an affair defines corruption.

[SShaw490]

I don't care what McCain did in his personal life. I do care who he may have done it with - if he had a romantic relationship (adulterous or otherwise) with any lobbyist who was entreating his assistance on behalf of her clients, that's an example of reckless, unstable judgement; and that's not what people want in a president. Frankly, I wish McCain had been foot-tapping in a Minneapolis bathroom - at least then he wouldn't have been at cross purposes with his Senate function.

[livesimply]

What do people know about John McCain? His history is all over the internet, including Wikipedia. If you haven't already, better read now before it all gets scrubbed.

[mommadona]

"IT'S ALL ABOUT K-STREET, SILLY!"

It's about a lobbyist.

It's about a lobbyist with a corporate jet.

It's about a lobbyist with a corporate jet and the chairperson of a powerful US Senate committee that has direct influence over your corporation's business deals.

It's about a lobbyist, and a powerful chairman together in a corporate jet.

It's about INFLUENCE and MONEY and DELUSIONS OF POWER.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ocBO0fr1Ui4&feature=related

"And, THAT'S da truth"..as Edith Ann would say.

[SamThornton]

Sure sex matters. Sen. McCain and his "values voters" constituency and rhetoric make it matter. Otherwise, why do public figures, particularly politicians, so consistently lie about their actions when caught?

The only bright note in the current imbroglio Sen. McCain finds himself in is that the lobbyist was female.

[SonnyBono]

Why are we discussing this topic?

Did John McCain have any relations with this woman - I don't know and I don't care - the real question is McCain's policies and abilities to be president. On those issues, I believe that he is sadly lacking and unqualified to be president.

Does his age matter? No but the fact that his "ideas" are old and a rehash of Bush/Cheney - that matters and his views and his campaign should be rejected on that basis.

The fact that he thinks that Vietnam could have been a "victory" if we had stayed in the war should be cause for concern for everyone. If we had continued the Vietnamese war, McCain would just have stayed in a prisoner of war camp that much longer.

His revised "straight talk" views seem to be endless war in Iraq and tax cuts for the wealthy - this should be the reasons to reject him and send him into retirement not the suggestion that he slept around on his second wife.

[desmirl]

I could care less about McCain's sex life (at 70, he HAS one?). But I am concerened that the seems to be the most hawkish of all the candidates, and if we elect him, he will push for further military misadventures in the Middle East and around the world.