McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and Ethics

After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.

Today's McCain Myth: Despite having a record number of lobbyists on his staff, John McCain can be trusted to reduce the influence of money and lobbyists in Washington.

After being embroiled in one of the biggest pay-to-play scandals in the history of Congress, John McCain has tried to reinvent himself as a maverick Washington outsider who will take the influence of money and lobbyists out of politics. In reality, "lobbyists are essentially running his presidential campaign" and a record 59 lobbyists are raising money for him, more than any other candidate. [Washington Post, 2/22/08]

Though McCain has refused to admit that lobbyists "have excess or unwarranted influence" with him, the fact is when McCain had a choice between promoting his presidential campaign and standing up for a grassroots lobbying reform he sponsored, McCain chose his campaign. McCain caved to the right wing of his party and voted against a grassroots lobbying package he sponsored because social conservative activists like the National Right to Life Committee and Gun Owners of America opposed it. [Washington Post, 2/11/07]

John McCain's pandering on grassroots lobbying reform is consistent with his pattern of doing favors for his lobbyist friends and questions about whether he illegally promised to take public financing to secure a $4 million loan for his campaign. [Washington Post, 2/21/08; AP, 2/21/08]

McCain may try to paint himself as a reformer, but the fact remains he is nothing more than a politician who is willing to pander to the special interests just to win elections.

Lobbyists Running McCain's Campaign. The Washington Post explored McCain's inconsistencies between his rhetoric on lobbyists and the reality, reporting "In McCain's case, the fact that lobbyists are essentially running his presidential campaign -- most of them as volunteers -- seems to some people to be at odds with his anti-lobbying rhetoric. 'He has a closer relationship with lobbyists than he lets on,' said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. 'The problem for McCain being so closely associated with lobbyists is that he's the candidate most closely associated with attacking lobbyists.'" [Washington Post, 2/22/08]

McCain Flip-Flops on Grassroots Lobbying Reform. After proposing a lobbying reform provision, "McCain the candidate switched positions and last month voted against that disclosure requirement after influential GOP groups such as Focus on the Family and National Right to Life strongly opposed the idea. McCain also hired as his campaign manager one of the grass-roots-lobbying industry's key consultants, Bush strategist Terry Nelson." [2007 Senate Vote #17, 1/18/2007; Washington Post, 2/11/07]

Caving to Conservative Activists, McCain Switches Vote on Lobbying Provision He Backed. "The provision would require grassroots organizations to report on their fundraising activities and is strongly opposed by groups such as the National Right to Life Committee, Gun Owners of America, and the American Civil Liberties Union. While grassroots groups on both sides of the political spectrum oppose the proposal, social conservative leaders such as Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, who broadcasts a radio program to hundreds of thousands of evangelical Christians, have been its most vehement critics. McCain sponsored legislation last Congress that included an even broader requirement for grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. But now he will vote to defeat a similar measure." [The Hill, 1/18/07]