John McCain is having a run of bad luck. People aren't taking the Straight Talk maverick at his word anymore, and it's taking a toll.
The latest crooked talk comes from McCain's ties to the bailout of Freddie Mac. Turns out McCain Aide's Firm Was Paid by Freddie Mac. (NYTimes)
"One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.
"The disclosure undercuts a statement by Mr. McCain on Sunday night that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had had no involvement with the company for the last several years....
"They said Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis & Manafort, had been kept on the payroll because of Mr. Davis’s close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who by 2006 was widely expected to run again for the White House.
"Davis took a leave from Davis & Manafort for the presidential campaign, but as a partner and equity-holder continues to benefit from its income. No one at Davis & Manafort other than Davis was involved in efforts on Freddie Mac’s behalf, the people familiar with the arrangement said."
In order to get around truth telling about Davis's involvement with the Federally-rescued Freddie Mac as interest is reignited with the controversy now swirling around the Bush administration's latest gigantic $700 billion bailout proposal, the McCain campaign states emphatically that Davis hasn't received a "salary" from Davis & Manafort since 2006.
It depends on what the meaning of "salary" is.... a truly Clintonian parse. Davis owns Davis and Manafort and shares in its profits.
McCain’s campaign has been attacking Senator Barack Obama for supposed ties to former mortgage lending officials of both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.... running a television commercial suggesting that Obama takes advice on housing issues from Franklin D. Raines, former chief executive of Fannie Mae, a contention flatly denied by Raines and the Obama campaign.
Freddie Mac’s roughly $500,000 in payments to Davis & Manafort began immediately after Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in late 2005 disbanded an advocacy coalition that they had set up and hired Davis to run.
So..... it turns out that it's McCain's campaign manager who has the close and deep ties to Freddie Mac.
November.
Showing posts with label Rick Davis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rick Davis. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
McCain's Ethics Have No Clothes
Candidate Sen. John McCain had better check his back pocket, the conservative vote still isn't there. Even with the help of the ham-fisted New York Times report on his appearance of inappropriate behavior with a lobbyist that temporarily rallied the faithful to his banner.
Conservative columnist George F. Will makes the case in "McCain in A Glass House." (WaPo) He calls McCain "a situational ethicist" regarding "big money" in politics. Plainly put, McCain showboats while shadowboxing.
For example, while chairman of the Commerce Committee, McCain "founded the Reform Institute to lobby for his agenda of campaign restrictions. It accepted large contributions, some of six figures, from corporations with business before the Commerce Committee (e.g. Echosphere, DISH Network, Cablevision Systems Corp., a charity funded by the head of Univision).
"The Reform Institute's leadership included Potter [general counsel of McCain's campaign] and two others who are senior advisers in McCain's campaign, Rick Davis and Carla Eudy."
While McCain judges the behavior of others, and their corrupt appearances, Will points out, "Such is his towering moral vanity, he seems sincerely to consider it theoretically impossible for him to commit the offenses of appearances that he incessantly ascribes to others.
"Such certitude is, however, not merely an unattractive trait. It is disturbing righteousness in someone grasping for presidential powers."
There is a world of meaning in Will's use of "grasping." It says McCain's grab for power doesn't match the reach necessary for our next president.
Conservative columnist George F. Will makes the case in "McCain in A Glass House." (WaPo) He calls McCain "a situational ethicist" regarding "big money" in politics. Plainly put, McCain showboats while shadowboxing.
For example, while chairman of the Commerce Committee, McCain "founded the Reform Institute to lobby for his agenda of campaign restrictions. It accepted large contributions, some of six figures, from corporations with business before the Commerce Committee (e.g. Echosphere, DISH Network, Cablevision Systems Corp., a charity funded by the head of Univision).
"The Reform Institute's leadership included Potter [general counsel of McCain's campaign] and two others who are senior advisers in McCain's campaign, Rick Davis and Carla Eudy."
While McCain judges the behavior of others, and their corrupt appearances, Will points out, "Such is his towering moral vanity, he seems sincerely to consider it theoretically impossible for him to commit the offenses of appearances that he incessantly ascribes to others.
"Such certitude is, however, not merely an unattractive trait. It is disturbing righteousness in someone grasping for presidential powers."
There is a world of meaning in Will's use of "grasping." It says McCain's grab for power doesn't match the reach necessary for our next president.
Friday, February 22, 2008
McCain's "Revolving" Straight Talk
It's candidate Sen. John McCain's public face..... for years he has ranted against lobbyists and the influence of "special interests" in DC. His website even says he's fighting against "the 'revolving door' by which lawmakers and other influential officials leave their posts and become lobbyists...."
Well, he should know.
The Washington Post today spells it out, "The Anti-Lobbyist, Advised by Lobbyists."
"...when McCain huddled with his closest advisers at his rustic Arizona cabin last weekend to map out his presidential campaign, virtually every one was part of the Washington lobbying culture he has long decried.
"His campaign manager, Rick Davis, co-founded a lobbying firm whose clients have included Verizon and SBC Telecommunications [remember McCain chaired the Senate Commerce Committee]. 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, JP Morgan 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."
These lobbyists are not only running McCain's campaign, but most of them aren't getting paid.... at least by McCain.... for their campaign work.
There's more.... McCain recently hired Mark Buse to be his Senate chief of staff. Buse until last fall was a lobbyist. McCain's top fundraising official is former congressman Tom Loffler (R-TX) who revolved himself into heading a lobbying law firm that counsels the Saudis and Toyota among others.
Public Citizen found that McCain has more bundlers from the lobbying community gathering checks for him than any other presidential candidate during the entire campaign from either party. By their current count, McCain has at least 59 federal lobbyists raising money for his campaign.
Of course, all these influence peddlers proclaim that they don't lobby McCain, or that they aren't currently working as lobbyists.... but how do they square that with McCain's "revolving door" rhetoric that is his crusading persona for his all-war-all-the-time no hope agenda.
In November we must stop the "revolving door" The Decider exits as McCain enters pushing the same failed policies and hackneyed ideas in the vanguard of an army of lobbyists with special influence.
Well, he should know.
The Washington Post today spells it out, "The Anti-Lobbyist, Advised by Lobbyists."
"...when McCain huddled with his closest advisers at his rustic Arizona cabin last weekend to map out his presidential campaign, virtually every one was part of the Washington lobbying culture he has long decried.
"His campaign manager, Rick Davis, co-founded a lobbying firm whose clients have included Verizon and SBC Telecommunications [remember McCain chaired the Senate Commerce Committee]. 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, JP Morgan 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."
These lobbyists are not only running McCain's campaign, but most of them aren't getting paid.... at least by McCain.... for their campaign work.
There's more.... McCain recently hired Mark Buse to be his Senate chief of staff. Buse until last fall was a lobbyist. McCain's top fundraising official is former congressman Tom Loffler (R-TX) who revolved himself into heading a lobbying law firm that counsels the Saudis and Toyota among others.
Public Citizen found that McCain has more bundlers from the lobbying community gathering checks for him than any other presidential candidate during the entire campaign from either party. By their current count, McCain has at least 59 federal lobbyists raising money for his campaign.
Of course, all these influence peddlers proclaim that they don't lobby McCain, or that they aren't currently working as lobbyists.... but how do they square that with McCain's "revolving door" rhetoric that is his crusading persona for his all-war-all-the-time no hope agenda.
In November we must stop the "revolving door" The Decider exits as McCain enters pushing the same failed policies and hackneyed ideas in the vanguard of an army of lobbyists with special influence.
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