Why Did McCain Sell Out to Big Oil? Ask Charles Keating.

John McCain's new coziness with Big Oil is in many respects just a replay of his old coziness with Charles Keating. In both cases, money and access bought influence. Let's start with oil.

Last month, Time reported that McCain tapped a "prominent Washington lobbyist," William E. Timmons Sr., to run his transition, should he win the election. Who does Timmons and Company lobby for? As of this year, they are getting about $100,000 a quarter from the American Petroleum Institute (API)

More than 20 top McCain advisers and fundraisers have lobbied for Big Oil, including Charlie Black, Senior Political Adviser (whose clients include Occidental, Yukos Oil, Chinese National Off-Shore Oil Corp.) and Wayne Berman, National Finance Co-Chairman (Hess, Chevron, Texaco, API).

What does the access get Big Oil? Let's see. McCain has almost completely walked away from the climate issue (see "Turns out McCain doesn't care about global warming"). He picked Big Oil's dream VP, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. And, of course, back in July, as the Washington Post headline blared, "Industry Gushed Money After Reversal on Drilling":

Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month -- three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban -- compared with $116,000 in March, $283,000 in April and $208,000 in May.

That is a lot of quid for a lot of quo, a lot of cash for trashing his image as an environmentalist or as a reforming maverick. Of course, we've seen that the environmental image was always a pure fraud (see "The greenwasher from Arizona has a record as dirty as the denier from Oklahoma").

Yet, the image of McCain as someone who fights against lobbyists, rather than cozies up to them, is also a complete fraud, as the sordid story of the Keating Five (excerpted below) makes clear. The past is indeed prologue:

Keating was the chair of Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, California, and he "ultimately served five years in prison for his corrupt mismanagement of Lincoln." Lincoln had become "burdened with bad debt resulting from its past aggressiveness, and by early 1986, its investment practices were being investigated and audited" by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) over whether it had violated rules limiting certain kinds of risky, direct investments. [Hmm. That certainly sounds familiar.] "Lincoln had directed FDIC-insured accounts into commercial real estate ventures. By the end of 1986, the FHLBB had found that Lincoln had $135 million in unreported losses and had surpassed the regulated direct investments limit by $600 million."

The core allegation of the Keating Five affair is that Keating had made contributions of about $1.3 million to various U.S. Senators, and he called on those Senators to help him resist regulators. The regulators backed off, to later disastrous consequences.

In 1991, the Senate Ethics Committee found that McCain had exercised "poor judgment" for meeting with federal regulators on Keating's behalf. Others members of the Keating Five were found to have acted improperly. Many independent observers thought all five got off lightly, especially McCain, who had far closer ties to Keating than the others:

Fred Wertheimer, president of Common Cause, which had initially demanded the investigation, thought the treatment of the senators far too lenient, and said, "The U.S. Senate remains on the auction block to the Charles Keatings of the world." Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, called it a "whitewash." Jonathan Alter of Newsweek said it was a classic case of the government trying to investigate itself, labelling the Senate Ethics Committee "shameless" for having "let four of the infamous Keating Five off with a wrist tap." Margaret Carlson of Time suspected the committee had timed its first report to coincide with the run-up to the Gulf War, minimizing its news impact. One of the San Francisco bank regulators felt that McCain had gotten off too lightly, saying that Keating's business involvement with Cindy McCain was an obvious conflict of interest.

McCain's incredibly close ties with Keating foreshadow his incredibly close ties with lobbyists today, especially with the oil industry. Consider just how cozy Keating was to McCain:

McCain was the closest socially to Keating of the five senators.... Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and his associates. In addition, McCain's wife Cindy McCain and her father Jim Hensley had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators. McCain, his family, and their baby-sitter had made nine trips at Keating's expense, sometimes aboard Keating's jet. Three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating's opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay. McCain did not pay Keating (in the amount of $13,433) for some of the trips until years after they were taken, when he learned that Keating was in trouble over Lincoln.

So McCain's unethical behavior today in his campaign, his cozy relationship with lobbyists and industry fat cats whose agenda he pushes, is nothing new.

It is time for everyone, including the media, to stop pushing the myth that McCain is now or has ever been a maverick or a reformer. As Rolling Stone puts it in the best article I've seen at connecting the dots of McCain's entire life, he is nothing but a Make-Believe Maverick: A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty . Hmm. Maybe Rolling Stone reads my HuffingtonPost pieces.

Comments

[larry278]

It wouldn't be surprising if the people at ROLLING STONE used HP & your blog. Both HP & RS are progrssive forces. Progressives do share ideas & viewpoints. Some call this sharing a de facto, underground college of the like minded because users of HP often use RS. Maybe Sarah will find a snappy pejorative for this common, harmless practice to give it a sinister name to scare fundie, neo-cons before they again suspend the McCain/Palin campaign to aid in the fight against & recovery from 9/15/08's melt-down. Time is short.

[mjt218]

Great post . . . You should try inserting, "but he's a Maverick" behind every one of your sentences, and then try to pass this off as a Palin speach.

I think there should be one point of clarification though . . . Donations to McCain's campaign from individuals tied to oil interests came while he dined with them during a trip to Houston. I'm not 100% sure that all of this can be tied directly to a McCain policy shift on drilling. Donors are going to make their donations on a face-to-face basis when given the opportunity. Many oil execs are probably more concerned about capital gains tax than about expanded offshore drilling. They're going to be making lots of money regardless, so I don't see major personal motivations in buying a policy shift.

[schatsie]

Face it, the voters know exactly what is going on with McCain...When did the oil companies give the voters a check? never ever,,,

the voters understand quid pro quo, and the Democrats need to get to work on Election REFORM,,, we are tired of hearing that these campaign donations do not affect their votes....If you believe that, we have a bridge in Alaska to sell.

[mjt218]

I'm not saying there's no expected quid pro quo anywhere, but many of the oil execs who donated to McCain in Houston last June will be long retired and won't care too much about the profits from a small amount of oil production 20 years from now (they're smart enough to know that this is what the expanded drilling is). They're much more concerned about Obama raising the capital gains and income taxes short term, so they give money to McCain. Oil Execs are individuals and it's foolish not to acknowledge that they have individual concerns.

[wwoody]

We can't continue in the direction this country our is heading, if we're lucky the financial and economic would only be very like recession which we would be able to work through, but we stay divide as a country the situation can very easily tail spin into a depression,if that happen oh boy. It would make the depression of 1929 look like a tea party.

[djimenez87]

I’m surprised the media has just picked up on this information. The way the article discusses John McCains past it seems as if they had been ignoring it. I have to agree with BigPappa, nobody is taking a closer look at either one of these candidates. Both are carpetbaggers who moved to politically convenient areas, and both married connected wives.
I feel the media’s stripping of McCains tag has nothing to do with his policies rather it has to do with him hiding Palin (for good reason). Now the media is cozying up to Obama because he is having an open policy with them when he travels. Nobody in this election has been objective. To be honest neither of these candidates pleases me. This article doesn’t say something new or brings to light private information. Anybody can look this stuff up, we just choose to not look for it, because he’s a “Maverick” or he is the “change” candidate. It’s time we stop digging up dirt about the other guy and get down to the issues. However I know that’s almost impossible in America because we only look skin deep. He/She is too old, black, or young and that’s all we see. People it’s about time we stop being so superficial and see which person will put our country on track again.

[lucero1946]

McCain and Palin are desperate, against the wall, no credibility, no platform, no new ideas, a shallow brain from Alaska, a narcissist who will do anything to win. Anyone can figure this out. The McCain team is throwing the towel forget about the Economy and the real issues but concentrate on smear. Wow, i thought McCain was an honorable man and the "Gorilla from Wasilla" is trying very hard to point out log in eye before noticing her own logs in her eyes. Is she "Christian"? Maybe "Conservonazi christian hyprocrite" as quoted from a true American who served his country well in Iraq.

[whitegoldwielder]

Also ask John Glenn. He introduced the Boss at an Obama fundraiseer this weekend and was one of the Keating Five.

did democrats have a brain cramp? Four of the five were democrats.

[TrooAmerican]

oh no, the 4 dems were also complicit, the problem is all of them got off light except one, i forget which, and yes the dems have had their share of corruption and BS also. But ...and its a BIG BUT... who was involved doesnt take away from the fact that the Republican Nominee for president was a family friend of Keating with his wife and father in law investing in Keating's business ventures, vacationing at his estate, using his private jet for travel, partying together, etc.

the fact is John McCain was one of the 5 congresspersons involved with this Bank Fraud, got plenty of contributions to his various campaigns, and dealt personally with this guy and his family was deeply involved with this man's commercial business ventures. You cannot possibly expect anyone to rationally believe that mcCain didnt do this mainly because of his personal ties, family investments, and campaign donations.

[schatsie]

Jeb Bush is the one who defaulted on his commercial property loan of 5 million and turned around and bought the SAME PEICE of PROPERTY for 500,000...That is 10 cents on the dollar....

Why did that not happen to me....Do you really think you can trust the NO BID, NO OVERSITE, Unitary Executive to come clean with ANYTHING??? they want McCain in there to continue this plundering and pillaging and to get the presidential pardons....

[TrooAmerican]

as for asking John Glenn.. Why? Why dont we Ask the guy that's been family friends with keating for decades and whos running for president and was instrumental in stopping the regulation??
Why dont we do that? wouldnt that be more pertinent to the current election? and the guy standing there at the podium bragging himself as a maverick, a buck the system guy, a change guy, an outsider, a 'honorable' guy?

jeez you take that he repeatedly cheated on his first wife, then did this bank scandal crap and those two alone should disqualify him from ever being president.
Theres no "honor" there.

[schatsie]

McCain would have been the BAG MAN.. Audit him!! oh no, we could not do that, it might offend someone....

[curocat]

Are the four out f the five democrats running for the office of President of the United States?????

[JiminNC]

One of the five is running for President and was the kingpin of the five.

[timberdoodle]

What's the big surprise McCain supported the war for oil in Iraq and is intent on staying there for as long as possible. The NATO commanding General in Afghanistan just announced yesterday the war there can't be won but nothing on U.S. news about this statement. WHY????

[leighg1]

Well said Joe! Thanks for the forceful rebuttal to McCain's deceptive camp!!!!

[Groovacious]

http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-oe-brooks25-2008sep25,0,1039504.column

[ohiovoter54]

Is Obama the man to pull us out of the cess pool created by the Bushies... I don't know. But I damn sure know that McCain and that idiot excuse for a VP Palin would only drag this country down further.

[timezone]

McCain can run, but he can't hide, from his fat cat connections.

[whitegoldwielder]

Four of the Keating Five were democrats. One of them was John Glenn who has been helping Obama campaign. Strange bedfellows.

[timezone]

Obama isn't the one with so many homes, he can't keep count.

[timezone]

And none were Obama and one WAS McCain.....

[doc0121]

the losing candidate should be tried for crimes against humanity for slinging mud against the winner and if found guilty should be given appropriate sentence

[BigPappa]

I am totally floord at how you Liberals continue to link McCain to things (i.e., Keating 5) but do not take an honest look at Obama's affiliates. How can you deny Obama's affiliation with Ayers? He may not have condoned his terrorism but worked with him after he terrorized, right? How about Tony Rezko who helped subsidize Obama's home?

Then there is the obvious link he has with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEO's Johnson and Raines. What about the contributions he received from these entities and how he and his senior economic advisor believed there were no problems with sub-prime loans. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that he received over $1.8 millon from sub-prime lendors.

Can someone reconcile how these items are overlooked by Democrats and the MSM yet McCain is being scrutinized for the Keating 5 allegations he was cleared of by the Democratic Special Counsel?

Oh by the way, click on the links below to see how McCain is being supported by former senior military leaders as well as past VFW commanders. I too support McCain and am a former Marine.

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/3c71a97f-c600-4ad4-a5ad-9907e752b799.htm

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/1d329947-c70c-4c7d-a87b-dd72692e55b8.htm

[realtalk]

YOU ARE AN A** -- OBAMA WAS 8 YEARS OLD BACK IN THE 60'S, SO HOW THE HELL DOES HE HAVE ANYTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH AYERS ACTIONS BACK IN THE 60'S?

PLUS BY YOU STUPID ASSUMPTIONS, AND THIS GUILT BY ASSOCIATION CRAP, ANYONE WHO EVER TOOK A CLASS TAUGHT BY AYERS AT COLLEGE, OR EVEN ATTENDED THE COLLEGE AYERS TEACHES AT, OR EVEN SAT IN THE SAME CAFFETARIA AS AYERS, IS SOMEHOW NOW AFFILIATED WITH AYERS AND SHOULD BE SMEARED?! AND ANYONE WHO EVER SERVED AYERS A COFFEE AT A COFFEE SHOP, OR SOLD HIM GROCERIES AT THE GROCERY STORE, OR SAT IN THE SAME MOVIE THEATRE AS AYERS SHOULD ALSO SOMEHOW BE AFFILIATED WITH WHAT HE DID 40 YEARS AGO?!

ANYONE WHO THINKS THIS IS AN IDIOT!!! --- YOU BIGPOPPA ARE AN IDIOT!!!

[BigPappa]

Wow, you are the typical pissed off liberal? What is with the yelling? Try having a civil discussion. Perhaps it has to do with the study that found Republican sex lives are much more fulfilled than Democrats - wait I am digressing let's get back on topic.

The fact that Obama affiliated with a terrorist AFTER Ayers was convicted does not bother you? Did you give that much thought? I like how you like to stretch the affiliations to all those other folks in an effort to pull away from Obama. Sorry, your diversions do not work with me. Obama questionable affilations are not limited to Ayers. There is a laundry list of others with similar radical backgrounds that have Obama has chosen to mentor or surround himself with. These only make the case about Ayers stronger.

Oh, and you said nothing about the fact McCain was cleared of any wrong doing. Google Robert Bennet and Keating 5 and you will find further evidence of McCain being clean. You will also note that 4 of 5 Senators involved in the Keating 5 were Democrats and that McCain was looped in as a result of partisan politics.

I suggest you keep the personal insults down too. Only and idiot cannot keep their emotions under control. Oh, and next time press on the Caps Lock key to use proper capitalization. That is if you're not an idiot and are able to dialogue like an adult.

[Publicola]

BigPappa: "How about Tony Rezko who helped subsidize Obama's home?"

That's a lie - Tony Rezko did NOT "help subsidize Obama's home."

Details at ObamaFactCheck.com:
http://www.obamafactcheck.com/facts/10/341739.shtml

Try to keep your 'facts' straight instead of being an unwitting (at best) conduit for disinformation and lies.

[BigPappa]

Of course you are going to site a link from that website. Google Obama and Rezko Connections and you find myriad links that say the opposite.

Here is link from the Chicaog Tribune (Obama's local paper) explaining how Rezko did Obama a favor of not developing the land so that Obama could obtain it at a lower price. It may not be dollars and cents that transferred hands, but it certainly was a favor.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/121104,CST-NWS-brown02.article

If you can assume so much about McCain, why not assume about Obama?

[SueMVetforObama]

I am also a former Marine. I am not voting for McCain. He no longer possesses ethics, integrity or honor. He sold it and you know it....

[whitegoldwielder]

And, while trying to create a problem for McCain, Obama is ignoring John Glenn who is campaigning for Obama. Talk about a double standard.

[IowaKid]

Oh let me see there is more than JUST Keating 5. Charlie Black (lobbyist), Rick Davis (lobbyist) oh yes and then there is the we have a nation of whinners Phil Gramm (how about banking and deregulation). Should we continue???????

[curocat]

During the 2008 DNC convention 28 count them 28 retired Admiral and General stood to be counted.... how many does mccain have????

[BigPappa]

Did you check out the link? If not, I suggest you do. There are many more than 28 in McCain's list and the list was not exhaustive of everyone.

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/3c71a97f-c600-4ad4-a5ad-9907e752b799.htm

To add, McCain's father and grandfather were both Admirals. You may find it interesting what this Admiral Lynch says about Obama and his comment calling our troops in Afghanistan war criminals:

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/354c71b8-e537-4c93-
9812-60f20216c48f.htm

If you care to know more about this incident and see Barack Obama call our troops war criminals please check out these links:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/14/AR2007081400812.html, Posted 8/14/2007).

Click Here To Watch Barack Obama accuse Americans of war crimes on August 13, 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrW4fOGIMVY

This is the guy who wants to be CinC of our troops!!!

[scotia626]

McCain has one agenda- John McCain- and he will sell anyone and anything to further his narcisistic agenda. it has NOTHING to do with country, honor or valor. its all about the john.

[whitegoldwielder]

Well, speaking of narcissism.

Obama has written two books...about himself.

And he has done nothing else of note. He isn's an economist, miltary man, governor or even a small town mayor. Just a senator who has been running for president since he got his job.

[BigPappa]

To add, Obama's senior economic advisor, Austin Goolsbee, touted how good sub-prime loans were along with Obama. Now he is pounding on McCain saying he should be worried about foreclosures and the economic crisis. I guess it is important now but not when he was taking donations from Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae and the sub-prime lenders. This HP articles shows the real Obama and the sub-prime donors he is tied to:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gerald-mcentee/obama-and-his-subprime-su_b_93778.html?view=screen

Where is Pelosi's investigation into this? There will not be one! Too many Democrats at the top of the donor list of FM/FM.

[Mashman]

You're bringing up this Keating5 stuff - why don't you mention what the Keating scandal investigator had to say about McCain after the Times started to smear him like you are doing.

This is what Bob Bennett has to say about McCain:

"I'm a registered Democrat, so I'm not on his side of a lot of issues. But I investigated John McCain for a year and a half, at least, when I was special counsel to the Senate Ethics Committee in the Keating Five, which, by the way, this New York Times article goes back to and discusses, goes back years and years.

And if there is one thing I am absolutely confident of, it is John McCain is an honest and honest man. I recommended to the Senate Ethics Committee that he be cut out of the case, that there was no evidence against him"

The ONLY reason the Democrats would not drop him from the investigation is because he was the only Republican in it. The Democrats included him in an investigation that they knew he had zero culpability just to smear his name! That's disgusting!

[BigPappa]

Very true Mashman. I said the very thing above and no one has replied.

The only reply I received was from a very upset realtalk who obviously did not get his government provided prescription because he felt necessary to yell in caps. That response was with regard to Ayers and nothing else.

So much for socialized medicine :-)

[Roguer]

There you go... being a hypocrit and insulting... read McCain's book and be scared... misguided misinformation like McCain is presenting is exactly how Hitler was elected... keep it up... we are already living in a candy coated police state...

[Publicola]

Mashman, asserting without attribution that he is quoting Bob Bennett:

"And if there is one thing I am absolutely confident of, it is John McCain is an honest and honest man."

Whether Bennett said that or not it's not true - McCain is a liar. But don't take my word for it - take McCain 's, from his 2003 autobiography "Worth the Fighting For":

------------------------------------
"I could tell from the desperate looks of my staff that we had an enormous problem. And that it could come down to lying or losing. I chose lying...

"I had promised to tell the truth no matter what. When I broke it, I had not just been dishonest, I had been a coward, and I had severed my own interests from my country's. That was what made the lie unforgivable. All my heroes, fictional and real, would have been ashamed of me.

"I was disappointed in myself. But not so much that I felt compelled to put my failure to the voters."
------------------------------------
http://www.mccainfactcheck.com/facts/11/ambition_first_339735.shtml

[whitegoldwielder]

and, why don't you democrats give us the rest of the list...including John Glenn who is campaigning for Obama right now.