McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and Transparency in Lobbying
May 20, 2008
John McCain says "[e]thics and transparency are not election year buzz words; they are the obligations of democracy and the duties of honorable public service." Yet his top campaign advisors have no problem lying about their lobbying records. Their excuse? Americans don't care--something McCain has yet to say if he agrees with. [johnmccain.com, accessed 5/19/08]
In fact just yesterday senior advisor Charlie Black told reporters, according to the Wall Street Journal, that he complied with the new campaign ethics rules "before there even was a rule" even though he lobbied from the back of the Straight Talk Express last year. Black's opinion on if any of this matters to America's voters? "Hell no. This is complete inside-the-beltway nonsense." When asked if he agreed with Black's assessment, McCain refused to directly answer the question and instead spouted rhetoric, saying "we wanted to make sure there was an effective and comprehensive and transparent policy towards lobbyist…" [Wall Street Journal, 5/19/08; foxnews.com, 5/19/08]
After all of John McCain's talk about corruption in Washington, now he isn't practicing what he preached. Ethics and transparency seem to be just buzz words for McCain, who clearly will do or say anything to win.
Black Claims to Have Adhered to No-Lobbying Rule Before There Even Was One. "Black said he complied with the policy "before there even was a rule." Black said he has no income from either his firm or the campaign but joked about an allowance from his wife, Judy Black, who is a lobbyist." http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/05/19/top-mccain-adviser-defends-his-lobbyist-past/
- FLASHBACK: Charlie Black Lobbied from the Back of the Campaign Bus; Black Slow to Relinquish Lobbyist Job, Despite Working as McCain Senior Advisor. Many McCain campaign advisers have been slow - or have simply failed - to relinquish their lobbying roles, such as Charlie Black, who despite being a fixture on the Straight Talk Express through late 2007 and early 2008, only relinquished his role at BKSH in early April 2008. "Suffice it to say," wrote the Washington Post, all of McCain's lobbyist advisers, "have a stake in the legislation that McCain will work on, even if he continues to be merely a senior senator on Capitol Hill." [Washington Post, 11/20/07; US News & World Reports, 5/28/07; The Hill, 3/8/06; The Atlantic, Marc Ambinder, 3/27/08]
- Charlie Black Admitted Lobbying From the Straight Talk Express. "But even as Black provides a private voice and a public face for McCain, he also leads his lobbying firm, which offers corporate interests and foreign governments the promise of access to the most powerful lawmakers. Some of those companies have interests before the Senate and, in particular, the Commerce Committee, of which McCain is a member. Black said he does a lot of his work by telephone from McCain's Straight Talk Express bus." [Washington Post, 2/22/08]
…But Resigns Only After Media Reports "Lobbying Entanglements." "Former Rep. Thomas G. Loeffler, a Texan who is among the McCain campaign's most important advisers and fundraisers, has resigned as a national co-chair over lobbying entanglements, a Republican source told Politico on Sunday. It's at least the fifth lobbying-related departure from the campaign in a week. The McCain campaign, already facing the prospect of being badly outgunned in the general election, now also must cope with the disruption of the lobbying shakeout." [politico.com, 5/18/08]
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.
