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McCain Pushing Lockheed-Made Weapons for Taiwan, Despite Advisers' Ties
It looks like John McCain's foreign policy advisers are back in the news -- and not in a good way.
Yesterday, McCain issued a statement urging the Bush administration to enlarge a $6 billion package of military equipment for Taiwan, announced earlier this week. McCain wants submarines and F-16 aircraft added to the package.
But as the Washington Post notes, the lobbying firm run by Randy Scheunemann, McCain's top foreign policy adviser, in June renewed a $200,00 contract to lobby on behalf of Taiwan. And in 2005, Scheunemann had personally signed the original contract between his firm, Orion Strategies, and the Taiwanese government. (Scheunemann took a leave of absence from the firm to work on McCain's campaign.)
The Post reports:
The McCain campaign did not respond to a request for comment on whether Randy Scheunemann, his foreign policy coordinator, had a role in drafting the statement or if he had recused himself.
But that's not the only potential conflict of interest here. As Think Progress points out, Scheuenemann has also lobbied for Lockheed Martin, which makes the F-16s that make McCain wants to give to Taiwan.
And here's something else worth noting. Another McCain foreign policy adviser, Bruce Jackson, is a former Lockheed vice president.
Jackson is a close Scheunemann ally, who was at Lockheed until 2002, during the period when, according to Senate disclosure forms, Scheuenemann lobbied for the arms contractor. The two men have worked together closely since then on efforts to expand NATO into eastern Europe.
In an interview, Jackson told TPMmuckraker that he has no financial stake in Lockheed, and has not spoken to McCain about the Taiwan arms package. He described his advisory role in the campaign as informal, and focused mostly on human-rights issues.
Still, Scheunemann's and Jackson's ties to Taiwan and Lockheed serve as a reminder of the influence of lobbyist and former corporate executives in McCain's campaign -- and of the ways in which the senator's bellicose foreign policy is often in sync with their interests.
Josh
Zachary
Nitpick: I think you mean the F16s that McCain wants to *sell* to Taiwan. This isn't a foreign aid case is it?
(Stating the obvious: yes Scheunemann should have recused himself.)
October 8, 2008 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds like the mccain that came across in the town hall. He obviously has no diplomatic sense or the ability to "look your adversary in the face" with the idea to get things right for once. Mainland China has a stake here. Doesn't he remember that the world went to China for the olympics a month ago? So now must be the time to stick the barrel of the gun in their faces? This policy will go no where except to put money in a few friendly lobbists/congressional pockets. Is mccain betting that China will not demand payments of hundreds of million from our treasury if more weapons head to taiwan? Is this typical of what a mccain presidency would be like?
October 8, 2008 3:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
apparently, McCain is out of his mind.
October 8, 2008 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seems to me this takes either large cahones or larger stupid in the middle of a campaign.
October 8, 2008 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain's ties to lobbyists are so extensive that almost any major decision in foreign policy is likely to appear compromised. In the case of Taiwan, I don't see any special pleading. Obamam too, has welcomed the arms sales, which have been delayed for nearly a year because of Bush's punitive policies toward Taipei and an overly solicitious attitude toward Beijing. So far, the White House refuses to allow sale of more F-16s, requested by Taiwan which would help shore up its air superiority across the Strait. Obama's Asia policy team would much prefer that Bush let all these sales go through this year to avoid trouble with China early in the next administration. All these arms sales are made under the terms of Taiwan Relations Act, and not merely at the behest of arms dealers.
October 9, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink