Former Freddie Mac Lobbyist Now McCain's Senate Aide

Washington Post reports that Mark Buse, the former staff director for McCain's Senate Commerce Committee in 2001 and 2002, lobbied for Freddie Mac and is now back on the McCain payroll in his Senate office.

When mortgage giant Freddie Mac feared several years ago that Sen. John McCain was too outspoken on the issue of executive pay, it pinpointed a lobbyist known for his closeness to McCain and hired him to work with the senator.

Mark Buse, a longtime McCain adviser who had been staff director of the Senate commerce committee, signed on as a Freddie Mac lobbyist, and his firm, ML Strategies, earned $460,000 in lobbying fees in late 2003 and 2004, according to lobbying disclosures. Buse is now chief of staff at McCain's Senate office.

While McCain made noise about executive pay, as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, he did not hold any hearings on the matter due to "lack of jurisdiction," his campaign says.

McCain continued to talk about the compensation issue. But inside Freddie Mac, Buse's effort was viewed as "hugely successful," a former Freddie Mac lobbyist said. "The statements didn't go away completely, but in terms of Senator McCain doing anything about it, it just never materialized. As far as I know, Buse was the only person working that issue for Fannie or Freddie, so he got a lot of credit internally for the results." [emphasis added]

And McCain's relationship to Buse?

Buse was nicknamed "The Ferret" because he helped his boss, McCain, find pork-barrel provisions buried in legislation. McCain has said he considered Buse to be like a son.

Buse left the commerce committee staff to lobby, signing on clients as diverse as oil giant Exxon Mobil, Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, according to the government records. He also represented telecommunications clients affected by the committee.

Buse returned to McCain's office this year as chief of staff.

Wasn't it John McCain who said that "access is influence"?

Comments (0)

Post a comment