One great but unnoticed benefit to McCain of fighting with Obama about talking to Iran for the last six days: It has somewhat overshadowed a string of stories about top McCain advisors who have made a living lobbying for some rather dubious foreign regimes.
The controversy has led McCain to issue a conflict of interest policy, and has led to the departure of five lobbyists from his campaign. The NYTimes wrapped up the action in a piece yesterday that makes it sound like half the people at HQ are working for special interests, and includes a priceless anecdote about campaign manager Rick Davis (with McCain, left) that has a link to Cablevision, the LI company trying to buy Newsday:
From the Times:
"The lobbying clout of Mr. Davis, the campaign manager, derives from his longtime Washington connections, which he drew attention to as recently as three years ago.
"In January 2005, he apparently pitched executives of Pegasus Capital Advisors, a private investment firm in Cos Cob, Conn., on the idea of putting money into a new firm in which he would be a partner, documents indicate. He told Pegasus Capital’s representatives that experienced 'Washington insiders' like him could use their ties to advance the interests of companies seeking federal contracts, according to documents obtained by The New York Times. A spokesman for Pegasus did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
"The proposal never bore fruit. But it came at the same time Mr. Davis was lobbying the Defense Department on behalf of Imagesat, an Israeli company that sells satellite imagery in which Pegasus Capital had invested. He was also then drawing a salary as the part-time president of the Reform Institute, a Washington group Mr. McCain helped found to champion ideals like reducing 'the influence of special interests' in politics and government."
What the Times didn't note: McCain's lobbyist-led "Reform Institute" was soliciting money from telecommunications companies subject to the jurisdiction of the Senate Commerce Committee, which he headed. And Cablevision gave two $100,000 donations to the "Reform Institute" at the same time it was getting McCain's help pushing a cable-pricing plan before the FCC that critics said would hurt consumers.
From an AP story in 2005: "Help from McCain, who argues for ridding politics of big money, included giving the chief executive of Cablevision the opportunity to testify before his Senate committee, writing a letter of support to the Federal Communications Commission, and asking other cable companies to support so-called a la carte pricing."
Of course, Cablevision was undoubtedly giving $200,000 to the Reform Institute because of its deep, pure and unsullied interest in good government of the sort championed by lobbyist Rick Davis, and McCain couldn't possibly have been influenced because he is widely known to be a man of total integrity.
But, you know, there are those "appearances" issues.
Full text of the AP story after the jump.
McCain and cable too cozy?
Associated Press
March 8, 2005
WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain pressed Cablevision Systems Corp.'s case for pricing changes with regulators at the same time a tax-exempt group that he co-founded solicited $200,000 in contributions from the company.
Help from McCain, who argues for ridding politics of big money, included giving the chief executive of Cablevision the opportunity to testify before his Senate committee, writing a letter of support to the Federal Communications Commission, and asking other cable companies to support so-called a la carte pricing.
Cablevision is the nation's sixth-largest cable provider, with about 3 million customers in the New York area.
The pricing plan is opposed by most of the cable industry. It would let customers pick the channels they want rather than buy fixed-price packages. Supporters say it would lower prices for consumers, but recent congressional and private studies concluded it could make cable more expensive.
McCain's help in 2003 and 2004 was sandwiched around two donations of $100,000 each from Cablevision to The Reform Institute, the tax-exempt group that touts McCain's views and has showcased him at events since his 2000 presidential campaign.
Cablevision's money accounted for 15 percent of the institute's fund-raising in 2003, according to its most recent tax filing.
The Arizona Republican said he saw nothing wrong with the group raising money from a company whose issue he championed, because the donations didn't go to his re-election campaign. McCain and documents provided by his office show he has supported a la carte pricing since at least 1998, well before Cablevision advocated it.
"If it was a PAC [political action committee] or if it was somehow connected to any campaign of mine, I would say to you, that's a legitimate appearance of conflict of interest. But it's not," McCain told The Associated Press.
Specialists on political ethics said they didn't see any distinction. "I think there is an appearance issue anytime you have a company or an interest giving large donations to any organization associated with a member [of Congress]," said Larry Noble who heads the Center for Responsive Politics.