McCain: For Sale To The Highest Donors

The perception of Senator John McCain as a champion against wasteful government spending and his oft repeated stand against earmarks has fed his reputation as a Republican willing to go against the establishment. He and vice presidential pick Alaska Governor Sarah Palin claim that they will change the culture of Washington if elected. But an examination of John McCain's senatorial career reveals a politician for sale to the highest bidder. All of the items listed in this post are culled from the pages of reputable mainstream publications and, despite the denial by McCain and his staff of wrongdoing in each case, there is an undeniable connection between contributions and legislation or political intervention on donor's behalf. John McCain is a master of the quid pro quo.

McCain supported The Reform Institute, a Virginia based think tank that, as The Chicago Tribune noted, is a sham used to collect contributions from those its reports and Congressional testimony favor. McCain campaign operative Rick Davis is prominent in the Institute's collection efforts.

"In 2003 and 2004, a telecommunications company with business before the McCain-led Senate Commerce Committee contributed a total of $200,000 to the institute. The contributions were solicited by Rick Davis, a veteran Washington lobbyist who was president of the institute from 2003 through 2005 and who is now McCain's campaign manager."

The press has covered each item cited herein, yet when viewed together they show a pattern of behavior that draws a portrait of Sen. McCain as a man for sale to the highest bidder. Beginning with the earliest scandal in his career and continued abuse of his office even while campaigning this year, despite his claim that the Keating scandal chastened him, the facts tell the story.

George Bush's 2000 campaign released information about John and Cindy McCain and her father's profiting from his long association with Charles Keating. Slate Magazine's Chris Suellentrop article titled Is John McCain a Crook? laid out the information leaked to the press.

"But Keating was more than a constituent to McCain--he was a longtime friend and associate. McCain met Keating in 1981 at a Navy League dinner in Arizona where McCain was the speaker. Keating was a former naval aviator himself, and the two men became friends. Keating raised money for McCain's two congressional campaigns in 1982 and 1984, and for McCain's 1986 Senate bid. By 1987, McCain campaigns had received $112,000 from Keating, his relatives, and his employees--the most received by any of the Keating Five. (Keating raised a total of $300,000 for the five senators.)

After McCain's election to the House in 1982, he and his family made at least nine trips at Keating's expense, three of which were to Keating's Bahamas retreat. McCain did not disclose the trips (as he was required to under House rules) until the scandal broke in 1989. At that point, he paid Keating $13,433 for the flights.

And in April 1986, one year before the meeting with the regulators, McCain's wife, Cindy, and her father invested $359,100 in a Keating strip mall."

The list of his campaign donors for McCain's 2008 campaign reveals that current Keating Law firm attorneys have become bundlers. While this is legal it argues for poor judgment on McCain's part to accept money from a firm he has in the past had dealings with resulting in his censure by the Senate. Another aspect of McCain's poor judgment is his selection of Phil Gramm as his economic "brain", the man who brought about market deregulation, which has led to the current Mortgage and Wall Street woes.

Here is a collection of examples of the Senator's dealings that led to my conclusion about the nature of Sen. McCain. Clicking on the cited publications can reference the complete articles.
The NewYork Times reported the connection of a long time campaign contributor and McCain's work on his behalf.

"A longtime political patron, Mr. Diamond is one of the elite fund-raisers Mr. McCain's current presidential campaign calls Innovators, having raised more than $250,000 so far ... In California, the McCain aide's assistance with the Army helped Mr. Diamond complete a purchase in 1999 that he soon turned over for a $20 million profit. And Mr. McCain's letter of recommendation reinforced Mr. Diamond's selling point about his McCain connections as he pursued -- and won in 2005 -- a potentially much more lucrative deal to develop a resort hotel and luxury housing."

A Washington Post story reveals more of his quid pro quos.

"Initially reluctant to support the swap, the Arizona Republican became a key figure in pushing the deal through Congress after the rancher and his partners hired lobbyists that included McCain's 1992 Senate campaign manager, two of his former Senate staff members (one of whom has returned as his chief of staff), and an Arizona insider who was a major McCain donor and is now bundling campaign checks.

When McCain's legislation passed in November 2005, the ranch owner gave the job of building as many as 12,000 homes to SunCor Development, a firm in Tempe, Ariz., run by Steven A. Betts, a longtime McCain supporter who has raised more than $100,000 for the presumptive Republican nominee. Betts said he and McCain never discussed the deal."

We heard McCain support the Georgian government in its battle against Russia, going so far as to send his wife to the country. Here is proof that his foreign policy advisor profited handsomely from McCain's connection to Georgian President Saakashvilli, despite McCain's denial of a quid pro quo. The Washington Post establishes the timely contract Randy Scheunemann signed and Sen. McCain's prior public statement of support.

"Sen. John McCain's top foreign policy adviser prepped his boss for an April 17 phone call with the president of Georgia and then helped the presumptive Republican presidential nominee prepare a strong statement of support for the fledgling republic.

The day of the call, a lobbying firm partly owned by the adviser, Randy Scheunemann, signed a $200,000 contract to continue providing strategic advice to the Georgian government in Washington."

MOJO:

McCain's Support for Honest Contracting Costs Jobs

The story of how John McCain backed a European-based plane maker named EADS over American-based Boeing for a $35 billion Pentagon contract to make air tankers is swirling around the internet. Additional juice for the story comes from the fact that McCain was richly rewarded by EADS for his actions in the form of campaign contributions, and the fact that a handful of McCain campaign staffers are current or former EADS lobbyists ("They never lobbied him related to the issues," said a spokesperson).

Time Magazine shows the connection of McCain's staff members had in the deal. How can he claim to be in tune with the American worker? In a time of domestic economic unraveling McCain sent $35 billion overseas while the American economy is struggling and jobs are in short supply. Thanks to Defense Secretary Gates the contract was rescinded.

At the Republican convention the attendees would erupt into chants of drill here drill now whenever a speaker mentioned oil, but I wonder if they would be as enthusiastic if they knew the following information. AOL News, a subsidiary of Time Warner, reported the timely connection of oil industry donations and McCain's sudden energy drilling switch.

"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. ..."The timing was significant," said David Donnelly, the national campaigns director of the Public Campaign Action Fund, a nonpartisan campaign finance reform group that conducted the analysis of McCain's oil industry contributions. "This is a case study of how a candidate can change a policy position in the interest of raising money."

Since the Republican Convention, where Sen. John McCain proclaimed that he and vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin are the true mavericks, the press has focused on Gov. Palin and disparities between her rhetoric on the stump and her record; focus on McCain has been largely absent. A CNN Special Edition segment on McCain failed to cover any of these Main Stream Media accounts of his questionable dealings on behalf of his donors. When is the media going to get to the business of reporting on the record of McCain? I hope that the answer is not after the November 4th election.

Comments

[candlewax]

What's that saying? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me?

We won't be fooled again.

[Stoppassingthebuck]

Wow, great job. I have forwarded it on to many of my friends and told them to do the same.

[JodyMcg]

Dear Paul,
It's a great job of synthesizing all the material together to show McCain's pattern. I see you posted this back in Sept. It seems that this post is even more timely now. You were just a little ahead of the times with your post. :)
I've buzzed it up and hopefully others will too.
I'm glad to see the focus back on McCain and his ties and record. Palin was just a distraction from the real evidence against McCain.

[StarkRavingNakedEmperor]

WOW Paul! I just heard you tonight on the Ray Taliaferro show on KGO! I thought it might be you from things that you said and when I surfed in to read this latest piece then I knew for sure because of the subject matter and the high points! It was very nice to get to hear your voice! You and your message came through loud and clear--you sounded great! I have been listening to Ray for over 21 years and really enjoy him--he keeps me sane. I will be looking forward to your next call into the show and your future posts here. Keep up the Great Work here and there!

[kellygrrrl]

Take this piece VIRAL people

Make Some Noise!!!!!

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks Kelly,
The McCain camp is lying so much, they may take McCain down on their own, but if the press wanted to be straight with us, someone would pick this stuff up and tell the people the truth about that thief!

[Rumplestiltskin]

Good work. Now analyze Murtha, and Biden. What about Colburn?

[BerthaVanation]

Which of those folks is running for president?

Bless your little heart.

[BARRISTER]

Why isn't McCain in jail with Abramoff ??

[TuffCookie]

Wow...

i'm fwd'ing to everyone i know!

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

Please do, we are screwed if a thief and an ambitious but empty politician get control of what is left of our country.
Thanks

[kadene]

It will be just a case of the deep calling to the deep. Two blank slates were carefully chosen to the lead the GOP ticket by party overlords, because of their appeal to the like-minded, who comprise the majority. A case of thieves elected by thieves for the benefit of thieves. The public doesn't care about integrity , sound judgment, or any other attributes leaders need to demonstrate. It's about victory on November 4.

Sadly, the screaming hordes are clamoring and calling for them.

[RealHRCFansVoteObama]

Thank you for taking the time to enumerate Senator McCain's ethical 'lapses'. Hopefully you are not the lone voice in the crowd. It is hard to believe any in-depth piece on the Senator could have missed these.

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

They are in the tank for this man, I need your help to get this story out NOW! Our future is at stake!

[renatam]

You got it!

[WeSeeYou]

Thank you for providing this important information, Paul! I agree that the future of this country is at serious risk and I am losing sleep over it!

I just sent it off to Anderson Cooper and asked him why CNN remains silent on this issue. I also asked why the CNN no show on Palins connection to the Alaskan Indepedance Party, and the fact that she agreed to give a keynote address at the AIP's 2006 convention AND also recorded a video greeting for this year's 2008 convention!!

Especially since McCain/Palin are trying to convince everyone that THEY represent the moral majority and are the ultimate patriots!

[Whinger]

Just how many times can John McCain sell his soul?

What does it profit a man to win an election and lose his honor and credibility?

[IndyReader]

The portion of this article about McCain's involvement in the oil tanker debacle should be part of a national political spot. The McCain/Palin backers would then really see who they're casting their votes for.

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

This stuff is so sad Indy. That deal would have cost thousands of jobs!

[kellygrrrl]

Excellent piece, Paul!!!!

anyone who cannot see this is More of the Same from the NeoCon movement is not awake

Wake Up America!!!!

Do Something!