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Today's Must Read
Once again, Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) invulnerability to the charms of lobbyists and his campaign supporters is put to the test.
This time it's The Washington Post going front page with the tale of McCain's role in a major Arizona land swap in 2005.
The basic thrust is this: a rancher owning 250 acres that intermingled with federally owned forest started pushing for a land swap that provide him with federal land in exchange for his own -- land that he could develop. Such land swaps are fairly common, though obviously easily abused. He was able to get the support of ex-Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), but without McCain's backing the bill died in 2002.
After that, he decided to get smart and retained a number of lobbyists with connections to McCain. That, after all, is the way Washington works:
[The rancher Fred Ruskin], who is a pediatrician by training, said he realized he needed to hire lobbyists "to open communications with McCain's office."He turned to some of McCain's closest former advisers. In 2002, he sought out Mark Buse, McCain's former staff director at the Senate commerce committee, which the senator chaired.
"I had gone to him to see if he had any advice as to how to deal with McCain," Ruskin said. "We had a couple of meetings and I paid him a little bit." Buse's federal lobbying records do not list the ranch as a client.
That year, lobbying records show, Ruskin also paid $60,000 to Michael Jimenez, another former McCain aide. Wes Gullett, who had worked in McCain's Senate office, managed his 1992 reelection bid, and served as deputy campaign manager for his 2000 presidential run, also lobbied on the bill, documents show. The watchdog group Public Citizen lists Gullett and his wife, Deborah, as bundlers who have raised more than $100,000 for McCain's White House bid. Ruskin also hired Gullett's partner, Kurt R. Davis, another McCain bundler and member of the senator's Arizona leadership team, to work with local officials and "to help with McCain if we needed help." Buse, Jimenez and Gullett did not return calls seeking comment.
With that sort of help, McCain became much more engaged. But McCain spokesman Brian Rogers "said that McCain does not recall being lobbied by his former staff members on the land swap and that 'no lobbyist influenced Senator McCain on this issue.'"
Nevertheless, somehow, some way Ruskin eventually ended up with his swap. And the company that's been hired to develop his new property is run by Steven A. Betts, "a longtime McCain supporter" who's raised $100,000 for McCain this election. (McCain's camp says that Betts' involvement was never discussed prior to the bill's passage.)
Now, is this is a major scandal? No. But like The New York Times' story last month, it shows McCain delivering for a campaign contributor in a way that belies his claim that he underwent a Road to Damascus conversion after the Keating Five scandal.
Josh
Zachary
To which the MSM shrugs. He's just so mavericky. And, it's good news for Hillary.
May 9, 2008 10:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't Denny Hastert pull off his own land deal before he left Congress?
I must say, they certainly are creative there in DC and on K Street.
May 9, 2008 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Diamond guy, supposedly a "land developer," sold the formerly federal land he got with McStain's help, at a fat profit, not long after he got it, for a huge profit, without ever developing one square foot of it.
May 9, 2008 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
It doesn't have to be a big scandal for it to work in the Dems favor. See, this is one of the problems I've had with how the Dems campaign - when it comes to digging up dirt on opponents, they keep looking for one big 'gotcha', when really all they need is a few smaller but connected ones, like this. You just have to say that these types of deals 'reveal a pattern of behavior'. You have to make it seem like the candidate, even when acting in plain sight, is still trying to hide something. In this way you call into question the candidate's integrity without doing so explicitly, which might come across as, well, shrill.
At least, that's how it has been effective against Dems. Maybe I'm naive, but I do think it can work the other way as well. You just have to know how to play the media game.
May 9, 2008 11:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
A steady drip, drip, drip of muck on McCain will be much more effective than one big gotcha. The right-wingers are compiling whatever they can about Obama. The Dems will need to keep a drumbeat of revelations of McCain's muck and hypocrisy to counteract it. If Obama can do it without being nasty, so much the better.
May 9, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
And if you think the media will give this ANY publicity, I've got real estate in Tikrit to sell ya.
May 9, 2008 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not sure how you're defining "media," but it's on the front page of one of the biggest and most influential newspapers today -- The Washington Post.
May 9, 2008 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
And the New York Times ran front page story about the Pentagon-media analyst program, where...
May 9, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
This guy should be pretty easy for the Dems to cut down to size: Old, out of touch, closely allied with lobbyists representing Big Business, hot temper, tainted badly by Keating 5 scandal, little grasp of economics, totally in the tank for the disastrous Bush "foreign policy" of unprovoked war to solve everthing, and -- to top it off -- a wife who's cold as ice and refuses to divulge her gold-plated income to the Little People.
May 9, 2008 11:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
But McCain spokesman Brian Rogers "said that McCain does not recall being lobbied by his former staff members on the land swap and that 'no lobbyist influenced Senator McCain on this issue.'"
He sounds more like Gonzo every day. Perhaps Gonzo wasn't exponentially corrupt, after all. Maybe he was just senile.
Now I am wondering if McCain is simply senile or exponentially corrupt...or maybe a two-fer, both.
Nah. Gramps, corrupt? Mr. Straight Talker?
Lies, lies, and more lies!
Give me a break.
May 9, 2008 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good point. Forgot to add "senile" to my litany of McSame's liabilities. And it's a big one, as he has been misspeaking quite a lot lately, including over some very important issues.
May 9, 2008 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
One word...Rezko.
May 9, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Two Words: 100 Years.
May 9, 2008 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Three words: gas tax holiday
(gee this is kind of fun, anyone got 4?)
May 9, 2008 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sunni-Shiite...hey, what's the difference?
May 9, 2008 2:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
hmmmm ....
4 Words: Shiite Sunni no difference. :)
May 9, 2008 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
This story also illustrates McCain's failing mental faculties. He doesn't remember talking to close associates, who's a sunni who's a shia and so on. I don't think someone so old and forgetful should be president.
May 9, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Psyclone is correct. You have to know how to play the game and the Democrats just don't know. They ought to hire some Republican to do this stuff for them.
May 9, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
So how about we stop wringing our hands and cowering for a change and start fighting back and kicking some ass? They've got a very flawed candidate, we've got one with the potential to bring a sea change to American politics and completely transform the landscape.
May 9, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Saint JohnGeorge McSame. I hope he gets so angry at a future debate with Obama when asked about shenanigans like this that he takes a swing at him, and falls off the podium into a pile of his wife's money.
May 9, 2008 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Corruption: It's not a bug, it's a feature...
Many Murkins, tenaciously delusional about their potential to join the oligarchy, want to know that, if they invest in a politician, it's gonna pay off. Bombin' Johnnie's willingness to reward support by lobbyists only demonstrates what an accessible Preznint he'd be...
May 9, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are some differences between McCain's plight and that of Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi, who has been indicted over a land swap.
1. Renzi never had sex with a lobbyist.
2. McCain's people made a lot of money, but Renzi didn't share.
3. Renzi got cash while McCain only got campaign contributions.
4. McCain's deal is a lot bigger.
5. Renzi never pretended to be anything but a bottom feeder.
6. McCain pretends to have changed after the Keating Five scandal.
May 9, 2008 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
MMMmmm... I can smell the Maverickness. It oozes from his pores.
May 9, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
MsJoanne and Doofus, if you insist on criticizing McSame using words like "senile" and "gramps" We will lose PA and FL by 20%. Please knock off the ageism. There is plenty of ammo to use on McCain that isn't self defeating.
May 9, 2008 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are a lot of older people who seriously question his age. You just have to do it respectfully. As long as the Obama campaign doesn't call him senile (unless it becomes an apparent medical condition) we'll be OK.
Fortunately, the chances of older people who would be offended checking in here are slim to none (unlike Clinton supporters). You will probably see me call him a "senile old bat" with relish (repeatedly).
May 9, 2008 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
An even juicier McCain-donor/land developer/public lands deal involves one Donald R. Diamond. Still waiting for the big story on this one. But Tim Russert has admitted that the media will be focusing more on McCain. As for the "maverick" and "reach across the aisle" myth, the Arizone Star looked at his voting record since 2001 and, guess what, on practically every major bill he has voted with Bush. And you know the DNC is sitting on this too. And they haven't forgotten about "the hug" either.
May 9, 2008 2:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
The only conversion he underwent after the Keating Five is that he learned that he must not leave his fingerprints at the scene of the crime.
May 10, 2008 10:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think we should focus on the fact that he's a bona fide baby killer...
That they were gook babies shouldn't matter to the Pro-Lifers, should it?
May 10, 2008 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Any idea where the land is? I lived in Northern AZ for a while and was aware of some swaps going on around Sedona in areas that were part of national forest land. Result...mansion in the rocks.
May 11, 2008 6:13 PM | Reply | Permalink