A Campaign of Lobbyists

There isn't any other way to describe it, really, reading the latest Washington Post piece detailing why McCain team is shockingly tied to Washington lobbyists. And should he become the next president of the United States, then we've got something else on our hands...

A White House of lobbyists.

Consider, via the WaPo piece:

His campaign manager, Rick Davis, co-founded a lobbying firm whose clients have included Verizon and SBC Telecommunications. His chief political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., is chairman of one of Washington's lobbying powerhouses, BKSH and Associates, which has represented AT&T, Alcoa, JPMorgan and U.S. Airways.

Senior advisers Steve Schmidt and Mark McKinnon work for firms that have lobbied for Land O' Lakes, UST Public Affairs, Dell and Fannie Mae.
[...]
McCain recently hired Mark Buse to be his Senate chief of staff. Buse led the Commerce Committee staff in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and was until last fall a lobbyist for ML Strategies, representing eBay, Goldman Sachs Group, Cablevision, Tenneco and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

McCain's top fundraising official is former congressman Tom Loeffler (R-Tex.), who heads a lobbying law firm called the Loeffler Group. He has counseled the Saudis as well as Southwest Airlines, AT&T, Toyota and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

It's really a huge list, and you should read the whole thing. But if you read nothing else, you've got to check out this sentence about his chief political advisor, mentioned in the article as chairman of one of Washington's lobbying powerhouses.

Black said he does a lot of his work by telephone from McCain's Straight Talk Express bus.

McCain talks a good game about lobbyists going back and forth between public officials and lobbyists. But I didn't know buses had revolving doors.

Comments (4) «

Howard Dean stomped all over John McCain yesterday in an interview with the National Journal.

Dean: McCain doesn't seem to really have an ethical compass

This part is just how I feel. He was asked about the affair.

"Dean: I have no idea whether the affair story is true or not, and I don't care. What I do care about is John McCain -- and this has been well-documented -- is talking all the time about being a reformer and a maverick, and in fact, he has taken thousands of dollars from corporations, ridden on their corporate jets, and then turned around and tried to do favors for them and get projects approved. He has tons of lobbyists on his staff. This is a guy who is very close to the lobbyist community, a guy who has been documented again and again by taking contributions and then doing favors for it. This is not a guy who is a reformer. This is a guy who has been in Washington for 25 years and wants to give us four more years of the same, and I don't think we need that."

1

sunny on February 22, 2008 at 12:21 PM

McCain is so a part of the lobbyist culture that he thinks that's the only place were power eminates in this country.

We need to teach him and all those who have corrupted themselves with this K Street mentality who really has the power.

The American working class and middle class need to come out in record numbers to vote in Novemeber...vote to take back our govenment from the forces that have done everything they can to destroy its strength and vitality with their greed.

2

SandyH on February 22, 2008 at 02:04 PM

McCain is a POS.

McCain .. worst than Bush.

3

rjsnj on February 23, 2008 at 08:07 AM

He has tons of lobbyists on his staff.
==================================================

So, Dr. Dean, we now know that when McCain says "my friends" he is referring to lobbyists.

4

rjsnj on February 23, 2008 at 08:08 AM

« Hide Comments

Comments are now closed for this entry.