McCain Fought Ethics Reform and Benefited from Cozy Relationships With Lobbyists. As of January 2007, 14 members of Senator McCain’s staff had passed through the revolving door into the lobbying industry. In addition, McCain voted against lobbying reform legislation in 2006, instead choosing to intensify his “K Street” fundraising. In 2005, McCain's 501(c)3 Took $200,000 in donations from Cablevision while McCain pushed legislation in its favor, and during the 2000 presidential campaign, McCain tapped corporations and donors for use of planes. Earlier in his career, McCain came under fire when he accepted thousands of dollars worth of free trips from friend and contributor Charles Keating, and failed to disclose the travel in his official filings. Making it worse, McCain exercised influence on his behalf. [1]
McCain’s Abramoff Report Said No Need For New Lobbying Laws Following Abramoff Scandal. The Indian Affairs Committee, chaired by Senator McCain, declared “No new or revised federal legislation [is] needed” in the aftermath of the Abramoff scandal. The report declared that “Without doubt, the depth and breadth of [Abramoff’s and Scanlon’s] misconduct was astonishing,” but “the Committee concludes that existing federal criminal statutes are sufficient to deter and punish such misconduct,” as evidenced by the guilty pleas obtained from the two. [2]
Recent ethics stories
Pressure Mounts on McCain to Release Tax Returns
The McCain campaign's decision to withhold Cindy McCain's tax returns is drawing criticism from across the political spectrum. This morning, editorials in both the Washington Post and Washington Times echoed calls for the McCain campaign to release Cindy McCain's tax returns. This follows a column in yesterday's New York Observer that blasts McCain for his hypocrisy on disclosure, noting that Mrs. McCain's corporate jet "has been flying him and his entourage of lobbyists around the country at bargain rates."
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MUST READ: More Lobbyist Problems for McCain Campaign
Days after two senior McCain campaign aides resigned after news reports revealed that their lobbying group had worked on behalf of the repressive regime in Myanmar, a new report reveals more lobbyist problems for John McCain's campaign.
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McCain's Lobbyist Staff
This weekend, we learned that one of McCain's campaign managers (he has several) had ties to a firm had represented the Burmese military Junta. As a result of the media scrutiny, he was forced to resign.
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Dean: Land Deals for Donors Show McCain's Real Priorities, Blatant Hypocrisy
On the same day John McCain gave a speech aimed at repositioning himself as a "moderate" for the general election by claiming to be a "conservationist," the Washington Post highlights Senator McCain's true priorities.
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McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and Straight Talk on Iraq
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain will stand by the statements he makes.
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McCain Introduced by Healthcare Lobbyist at Healthcare Event
Smooth: At his health care policy event yesterday at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Florida, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was introduced by the institute's chairman, former Republican senator Connie Mack. But, as Hotline reports, Mack...
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John McCain's Desperate Double Talk on Iraq Continues
Even as John McCain and the Republican Party resort to baseless legal complaints and blatant distortions to avoid defending McCain's willingness to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years, new video emerged today that shows John McCain once "rejecting the very policy he urges today." McCain's campaign is arguing that he has not changed is view, and that he has always advocated a long-term troop presence in Iraq similar to that in Germany and South Korea.
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McCain Airlines
Early in the Republican primary season, John McCain stated that he would not fly on corporate jets, nor would he enlist the aid of his wife's wealth to the campaign. According to the New York Times on Sunday, John McCain "frequently" flew on a corporate jet owned by a company headed by wife, Cindy, and paid a fraction of the actual cost.
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Dean: John McCain's Lack of Tranparency is Troubling, He Should Release More Complex Tax Return History Immediately
Today John McCain, the ninth richest member of Congress, again showed the American people that his call for openness and accountability in government applies to everyone but himself.
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Democratic Party Filing Suit with District Court
For weeks now, John McCain has broken campaign finance law by going over the spending limits that he agreed to when he opted into public financing in order to secure a loan and get his name on the ballot in several states.
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McCain's Lobbyist Connections
We've gone over this before, but Media Matters "Action Network" illustrates it so nicely. You'll want to check out this graphic showing the many lobbyists and former lobbyists on board the McCain campaign, which is more than any other candidate in the race.
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McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and Ethics
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain's biography tour will give voters a picture of McCain's true values.
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Happy 21st Anniversary to John McCain!
John McCain is traveling the country on a biographical tour, but here's one stop his campaign won't celebrate: the Keating Five. (April 2 marks the 21st anniversary of the group's first meeting.) McCain and four other senators interceded on behalf...
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McCain's Army of Lobbyist Staffers Continues to Grow
Lobbyist Doug Davenport is joining the McCain campaign as one of the ten, decentralized, regional campaign managers. Davenport is one of the founders and current chief lobbyist for the DCI Group. Lobbyist staffers: cheaper by the dozen.
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Another FEC Complaint Filed Against McCain
A while back we filed an FEC complaint against John McCain, asking them to investigate whether the McCain campaign was on the verge of violating the spending limit law he agreed to when he became eligible to receive matching funds.
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Win a Chance to Watch Charlie Black Lobby from the McCain Bus
John McCain sent an e-mail message to supporters offering a chance to ride the "Straight Talk Express" with the Arizona senator -- a spot typically reserved for lobbyists. My campaign has come up with an opportunity for a supporter to...
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Straight Talk!
McCain's numerous lobbyist connections raise some eyebrows:
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DNC Announces New Round of Debates as Senator McCain Squares Off Against Senator McCain
The Democratic National Committee announced today that Senator John McCain will appear in a series of debates to be broadcast on www.mccaindebates.com. The one candidate in this debate who could beat John McCain, is John McCain himself.
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John McCain's "Missed Opportunity"
In an effort to burnish his foreign policy credentials, John McCain made a taxpayer-funded campaign swing through Europe and the Middle East this week. But the trip was not the success the McCain campaign had hoped for.
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McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and Transparency
Today's McCain Myth: McCain would have an open and transparent presidency.
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[CRP, accessed 1/8/07; Vote #82, 3/29/06; The Hill, 3/8/06; San Francisco Chronicle, 1/18/06; AP, 3/7/05; Washington Post, 1/16/06; New York Times, 2/28/91; San Francisco Chronicle, 12/3/90; Arizona Republic, 10/8/89; 10/17/89; Roll Call, 1/20/92; AP, 3/2/91; San Francisco Chronicle, 12/3/90; New York Times, 2/28/91]
[“Gimme Five”: Investigation Of Tribal Lobbying Matters, Final Report, Senate Committee On Indian Affairs, 6/22/06]