WashTimes: McCain’s foreign lobby money flow
A new report from the Washington Times shows that lobbyists who populate the McCain camp are no different than the lobbyists who populate any of the other presidential candidate’s camp. They sell their services to the highest bidder. And that’s the point: Despite his holier-than-thou stance on campaign finance, The Maaaverick is just like everyone else in Washington. Surrounded by other Beltway denizens engaged in business as usual. Like McCain says himself: “I’ll rely on people to judge me by the company that I keep.”
Excerpt:
Two of Sen. John McCain’s top advisers and fundraisers are among several Republican and Democratic presidential campaign officials whose lobbying firms have been paid more than $15 million by foreign governments since 2005.
The firms of McCain senior adviser Charlie Black, who until recently was the chairman of Washington-based BKSH & Associates, and campaign co-chairman Thomas G. Loeffler, who heads the Loeffler Group in San Antonio, received millions of dollars lobbying the White House, Congress and others as agents of nearly a dozen foreign clients in recent years…
…Mr. Black, who chaired BKSH when it received more than $700,000 in fees from foreign entities since 2005, also signed a deal to lobby for the China National Offshore Oil Corp., a state-owned firm that backed out of an $18.5 billion takeover of U.S. oil producer Unocal amid sharp congressional opposition.
In 2005, the House passed a resolution 398-15 calling for a thorough review of the deal and lawmakers from both parties said the prospect of a Chinese state-owned energy company in charge of a U.S. oil producer posed a national security threat.
Mr. Black said he wasn’t working on any campaigns at the time, but he added that he has a personal rule against giving advice to Mr. McCain on any issues in which he has been a lobbyist: “If an issue comes up, I don’t participate in the discussion.”
Saying he resigned from BKSH to spend more time on the McCain campaign, Mr. Black said Mr. McCain is not influenced by lobbyists, including those who have worked or raised money for his campaign.
Mr. Loeffler’s firm has received more than $10 million since 2006 from the Saudi Embassy and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia…
…Other McCain campaign bundlers, who have committed to raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the candidate, also have received lobbying fees from foreign governments. They include the following:
…Rob Allyn, head of the Dallas-based Allyn & Co., a public relations, advertising and political media firm, who was paid $720,000 by the Mexican government in 2006 to polish its image and call for a guest worker program for millions of Mexican nationals illegally in the United States.
Same old, same old.
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snort.
Wake me when they report on something most people don’t know…
Like the presence of Juan Hernandez in the McCain camp – and all he represents.
He’s pathetic and is starting to make Bob Dole’s run for the White House look good in comparison.
Lobbyists, schmobbyists, who cares? What I want to know is, is that *really* a naked woman in the reflection of Dick Cheney’s sunglasses?
POS
One has to wonder how much money from the Mexican Govt and/or the Drug cartels south of the border has wormed it’s way through hands to reach almost all our politicians.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why any politican with an IQ over 80 would want to sell out America to criminal invaders. and especially strange why Republicans woudl support any part of it, when you know that 99.99999% will be voting Democrap…(If they aren’t already since illegals DO indeed vote in many states).
“I’ll rely on people to judge me by the company that I keep.”
now there’s some imagery.. Ouch.
…and the other candidates bowed out to bring unity to the party?
HHHAAAAHHAAAHHAA
Forget the nose plugs. How does one go about severing ones olfactory nerve?
Thank goodness Michelle, you have not lost your objectivity. Hannity has and his defense of Mc Cain is getting ugly.
That’s because Fascist of feather…
Is there a way to raise funds for an exhorbitant two-year campaign for the presidency without getting your hands dirty? In the meantime, the only ones getting rich from this marathon are the media and ad agencies. Now, even the chief campaign finance reformer has capitulated to ugly reality.
Political partying above we the people once again. Unfortunately, this is now so common that it really is not newsworthy. What should be in the news is the that we the people are still going to vote for any of these criminals.
Obama is the candidate with the least links to lobbyists. He has links (please don’t quote only the first sentence), but less than McCain or Clinton.
BTW my fascist remark was aimed at McCain and Hannity and not anyone here.
Yes, he only has links to hate-mongering pastors, domestic terrorists, major bundlers, indicted land dealers…
Oh, and billionaires, hedge fund owners, military contractors who got earmarks by him, trial lawyers, and Wall Street executives.
Soooooo…South Korea has to pay lobbyists to influence the passage of a law which would make it easier for South Korea to buy US-made weaponry. And this is a problem because?
1. Says who?
2. Even if true, not surprising. Lobbyists are paid to be effective by working with influential members of Congress. That would eliminate the Chauncey Gardiner of the Senate from contact with many lobbyists.
I guess you didn’t notice the Washington Post article this morning on who really contributes to Obummer’s campaign. Yeah, he built up his campaign from the grassroots. Unfortunately, there are some billionaires in the mix along with some big organizations (think Moveon.org) who use that nice little thing known as “bundling” to disguise who gave what.
So those nice lawyers and casino owners don’t count right? Or how about those lovely lobbyists Obummer cuddled up to during his state senate career.
Saying Obummer isn’t tied to lobbyist cash (as much) is like him saying he supports personal responsibility in real life and not just on the campaign trail.
Yeah, he really is making a change we can believe in… yet it still has that same old “business as usual” stench attached to it.
Rob Allyn covertly managed Vicente Fox’s presidential campaign in Mexico and has been the political strategist for “Republican” trial lawyer groups.
I don’t know why McCain bothered putting his name on that campaign financing bill at all. He had to have known that if he even associated with lobbyists he’d get clobbered over it. He must know that if he’s going to live by the sword, he’ll die by it as well.
The only upside to this (if you can find one) is who a lot of the big corporations are giving to. I was shocked that General Dynamics gave money to Obummer. While Obummer refutes any favoritism or appearance of conflict of interest regarding certain program pork kickbacks…. the pork for General Dynamics ended up in a bill anyway.
They’re all the same… it just depends on how much either candidate is getting in terms of lobbyist/corporate donations.
Will they or won’t they take public funds for the general election?
He’s younger. Give him time.
War Tip #12:
You’ve got the makings of an idea, there. What would the Repub Party honchos do if there was a nationwide boycott of this election by nearly every registered Repub voter? Would THAT finally wake them up? I fear not; they seem to be beyond help.
I wish I could say I wasn’t surprised, but this explains his passion for trying to shove Shamnesty down our throats last summer. No surprise to find the “grumpy old man” is in bed with the lobby industry. Time for a viable new Conservative Party to replace the “Stupid Party” they continue to go the way of the Whigs.
That would certainly be worth a shot Dan if we can get past the apathy of the vast majority of voters and party-goers who toe the party line (On both sides) no matter what. However, I was thinking more like a new Free State Project and Secession if we could find a legal way to make it happen.
I doubt it ever will but if I am going to dream, a Constitutional Republic composed of Independent but United States would certainly be a worthy (if not lofty) one to have.