John McCain's Lobbyists (the list)

Listening to the McCain campaign talk about lobbyists over the last few days I was reminded of that scene from Casablanca between Rick and Captain Renault. Renault expresses faux outrage over gambling.

Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.
[aloud]
Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!

The McCain campaign's response to their recent McLobbyist scandals is just as fake.

To date, John McCain has 118 lobbyists either working or raising money for him. So far, he's fired only three of them:

Eric Robert Burgeson

Douglas B. Davenport

Thomas Loeffler

This is hardly even a slap on the wrist.

The remaining 115 lobbyists make millions working for special interests in Washington. They represent all kinds of industries like health insurance companies, Big Pharma, defense contractors, and Telecom. They represent foreign regimes like Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Burma. And they hold positions at the highest levels of the McCain campaign.

John McCain says he represents the American people, but the men and women Senator McCain has chosen to run his campaign have worked for years for special interests.

Here is the full list of the lobbyists working or raising money for John McCain:

Robert Aiken

Grant Aldonas

Philmore B. Anderson

Rebecca "Becky" Anderson

Stanton Anderson

Susan Auther Andres

Robert Asher

William J. Bailey III

William Ball III

David Beightol

Rhonda A. Bentz

Wayne Berman

Steve Betts

Charlie Black

Judy Black

Kirk Blalock

Carlos Bonilla

Christine Burgeson

Kerry Cammack

Kirsten Ardleigh Chadwick

Rob Chamberlin

Susan Charlton

John Clerici

Josephine "Jo" Cooper

James Courter

Bryan Cunningham

Alfonse D'Amato

Ashley Davis

Kurt Davis

Rick Davis

Mimi Dawson

John Diamond

Frank Donatelli

Melissa "Missy" Edwards

Kevin Fay

Christian Ferry

Chris Fidler

Thomas Jr. Fiorentino

Sally Furman

Samuel K. Geduldig

Ben Ginsberg

David Girard-di Carlo

Michael Glassner

Juleanna R. Glover Weiss

Phil Gramm

John Green

Janet M. Grissom

Wes Gullett

Kristen Gullott

Kent Hance

Robert Harding

Vicki Hart

Robert van Laer Hartwell

John D. Heubusch

Deborah Hohlt

Richard Hohlt

Gaylord T. Jr. Hughey

Peter Huntsman

Aleix Jarvis

Greg Jenner

Christine Jones

Nancy Johnson

Mary Kate Johnson

Ned Johnson

Charles N. Kahn III

Mike Kennedy

William Kilberg

Steve Kuykendall

William "Bill" Lesher

Jack Lichtenstein

Gail MacKinnon

Peter Madigan

Mary Mann

Paul Martino

Mary McAuliffe

John McGovern

Mike McKay

Timothy McKone

Alison H. McSlarrow

Kyle E. McSlarrow

Michael E. Meece

David A Metzner

Susan Molinari

John Munger

Ken Nahigian

Susan Nelson

Jack Oliver

Steve Perry

Nancy Mitchell Pfotenhauer

Steve Phillips

Elise Pickering

James L. Pitts

Timothy Powers

Anthony Principi

Michael Racy

Sloan W. Rappoport

James Rill

Steve Roman

Matt Salmon

Joseph Samora

Randy Scheunemann

Katie Stahl

Milly Stanges

Aquiles Suarez

Fife Symington

Jeri Thompson

Dirk W. Van Dongen

David Vennett

Raymond T. Jr. Wagner

Jeffrey Weiss

Richard "Dick" Wiley

Tony Williams

James Woolsey

Joseph Wright

Fred Zeidman

You can take a look at the people they worked for and the positions they hold within the McCain campaign over at McCainSource.com.

Does John McCain actually expect us to believe that of the 115 lobbyists left, none of them will come back to the White House looking for favors if he gets elected?

Follow Tom Matzzie on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Matzzie

Comments

[merrylee]

05:13 PM on 05/20/2008

and don't forget a related issue -

11 of his National Co Chairs have founded/funded 527's to the tune of $23.2 million since 04 alone -
eg: Jerry Perenchio $5M to found Progress for America in 04, then another $5M in 06 - you know, after the Maverick took him to court for it in 05

[dgscol]

03:52 PM on 05/20/2008

It is nice these guys have an insurance policy against unemployment - that is, unelectability. This is a Congressional revolving door, and ought to be a main campaign issue. Why are foreign countries, foreign companies, and multinationals, who do not pay any taxes or have not pledged allegiance to our flag, getting preferential consideration in Washington?

Where is the straight talk? Should we have ever taken him seriously?
What are the Dems? Where are they on this issue? They are talking like we ought to get our jobs back.
Maybe is US companies, who pay taxes and cannot use US foreign aid to pay off lobbyists, could get some domestic issues raised, something good could happen. Instead we are getting more crap out of Washington .... foreign aid for poverty, give away patent rights to foreign countries, and more H1B visas for foreign workers.

The latest : Feinstein/Craig rider on the supplemental war funding bill to grant amnesty to millions of illegal Mexican immigrants. H.R.2642. Contact your Congressman by phone. Voting before the weekend.

[DShawn233]

02:52 PM on 05/20/2008

Lobbyists involved in my campaign??? Where??? Says who????????? You are as likely to find a Lobbyist inside of my campaign as you are to see a tax return from Cindy.

Signed,
Senator John McCain

[flatus]

12:21 PM on 05/20/2008

Ahhh...is there anything more beautiful than an "American hero" cashing in?

[DickTater]

10:22 AM on 05/20/2008

Thank You Mr. Mattzie for doing the job the CorporoMedia is so opposed to doing.

Just a simple list, and all of their graphics wizards and crack researchers just somehow couldn't manage to show such a simple list to the american public. I guess all those budget cuts to the newsrooms has them down to crayons, a chalkboard, and some old overhead projector gels from the late 70s. The projector needs a bulb.

[Triciann]

10:17 AM on 05/20/2008

John McCain would make a dreadful President. Everyone talks about his service to the country. a lot of that is just "political correctness". We should really be concentrating on the present and the future. However, just a couple of things about his past. During training he crashed two planes, one by getting tangled in power lines in Spain. Anyone who has anything to do with the military knows what that means; McCain was showing off; he was being reckless. His personal life showed a reckless attitude too. We don't need a reckless guy deciding he will send a message to the Middle East by launching bombing attacks on Iran; maybe even a nuclear bomb! You think he wouldn't? I don't!

We also need to question his honesty and ethics; his best friends are lobbyists!

[conservativeoriginalist]

09:31 AM on 05/20/2008

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't McCain campaign during the primary on a platform of being anti-lobbyist? Did he not say ad nauseum he wants to stamp out earmarks (which is the result of lobbying)?

[najablah]

06:22 PM on 05/20/2008

Sure he did. He's spent his entire career in Congress creating the image that he is a Maverick, and the traditional media has bought that image hook, line, and sinker. Never mind the fact that none of his fabricated image comports with reality. So long as the talking heads keep calling him a Maverick and a Straight Talker, he wins.

[frappe]

09:23 AM on 05/20/2008

115 lobbyists and McCain is being promoted by the mainstream media as some sort of "maverick" or rebel? Sounds and looks like "more of the same" from the Republican party to me.

[mcole]

07:12 AM on 05/20/2008

why is this writer referring to nigeria as a regime? i am seriously offended by this lack of proper research, you cant just labelafrican or any other countries what you like in order to make your less than accurate point.
i dont care how many lobyists are working for the babangida's, Ibrahim Babangida is dead, and his family is not in power. why do you then claim whoever is a lobbyist for a non regime country based on one citizen? thats poor reporting, poor research and i am highly offended.

[MrHHusseinMA]

09:29 AM on 05/20/2008

With all due respect, Nigeria has been one of Africa's worst regimes and continues to be the most corrupt failed state in Africa. I come from Africa and have studied African nations extensively. For a primer, please read Chinua Achebe's book, The Trouble With Nigeria.

[swooge]

09:46 AM on 05/20/2008

IBB is not dead and he's trying to gain power in Nigeria once again. He has great wealth from which to back his candidacy from pillaging Nigeria's coffers.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200805191218.html

Who's doing the poor research again?

[indypete]

02:08 AM on 05/20/2008

Wasn't it Bill Maher that said all candidates should wear their sponsor's logos on their suits like Nascar drivers?

[OpusIsUnderTheBed]

12:05 AM on 05/20/2008

McCain's wife is worth 100 million plus, and she says her tax information is none of our business. Are the McCain's hiding something not appropriate for a Senator and presidential candidate?

[cylindar]

11:52 PM on 05/19/2008

You missed one--The Devil

[CocteausTwin]

05:13 AM on 05/20/2008

LOL

[Liberoservative]

11:48 PM on 05/19/2008

"Does John McCain actually expect us to believe that of the 115 lobbyists left, none of them will come back to the White House looking for favors if he gets elected?"

Well of course he does! He's the Straightalker and he doesn't believe in lobbyists or earmarks (just conducting massive land deals for his pals) ... and since he's a Republican, it has to be true!

*off to go bang my head against the wall*

[shrinqrap]

11:46 PM on 05/19/2008

"America - Love It or.............. Lobby It"

[0j0]

11:42 PM on 05/19/2008

Hey Tom (or anyone else),

I'd be curious to learn how many lobbyists Obama and Clinton have working for them. BTW, I'm leaning Obama at this point. But just curious.

[Boboday555]

11:56 PM on 05/19/2008

I was curious too until I realized it was McCain who promised not to dirty his hands with lobbyists not Senator Obama or Clinton.

McCain knows his base is used to being lied to by its leaders.

[KBAR]

12:19 AM on 05/20/2008

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080416/NEWS0206/804160445/1001/RSS01

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama often boasts he is "the only candidate who isn't taking a dime from Washington lobbyists," yet his fundraising team includes 38 members of law firms that were paid $138 million last year to lobby the federal government, records show.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-04-15-obamainside_N.htm

Obama's claim of independence questioned

[Liberoservative]

12:15 AM on 05/20/2008

This article talks about lobbyists that work for Obama... I have emailed his campaign to ask how many are still working for him and who they lobbied for.... It is a common practice, apparently... both Clinton, Edwarrds and Obama had/have lobbyists working for them. I am also curious what their role is... are they there to court a certain demographic? I have no idea...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/lobbyists-on-obamas-08-payroll-2007-12-20.html