May 11, 2008

McCain’s lobbyists continue to cause him headaches

Following up on an earlier item, John McCain had to accept the resignation of Doug Goodyear, the man he tapped to manage the Republican National Convention, after reports surfaced that Goodyear’s lobbying firm represented Burma’s brutal military junta.

But Goodyear simply ran the firm. What about the specific lobbyist who actually worked on the junta’s behalf? As it turns out, that would be Doug Davenport who, you guessed it, also works for John McCain’s campaign. (Davenport is a regional campaign manager for McCain, overseeing the operation in mid-Atlantic states.)

Apparently hoping to clear this unpleasantness up before the weekend’s over, Goodyear resigned yesterday afternoon, and Davenport resigned this morning.

“Doug has tendered his resignation and we have accepted it,” Jill Hazelbaker wrote in an e-mail.

She said Davenport quit this morning for the same reason that spurred McCain’s hand-picked convention manager to resign yesterday: connections to the DCI Group.

The lingering oddity is that the McCain team knew that their lobbying connections were controversial, and that the lobbyists-turned-campaign-staffers might be scrutinized based on their client list. We know this because Newsweek reported that McCain passed over a different lobbyist for the convention post because he’d served as a consultant for “Viktor Yanukovich, the former Ukrainian prime minister who has been widely criticized for alleged corruption and for his close ties to Russia’s Vladimir Putin — a potential embarrassment for McCain, who in 2007 called Putin a ‘totalitarian dictator.’”

One McCain strategist said, “The Ukrainian stuff was viewed as too much.”

If they knew this, why not consider the seriousness of the association with the Burmese junta? As hilzoy asked, “Ukraine is too much, but Burma is OK?”

 
Discussion

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19 Comments
1.
On May 11th, 2008 at 3:18 pm, little bear said:

Wonder what type of “aches” he would have if the public were to find out that mclame used the services of the DC Madam prostitutes and that she was MURDERED to protect powerful politicians like himself and cheney.

It wasn’t a suicide.

2.
On May 11th, 2008 at 3:57 pm, TR said:

Hey look! A post that hasn’t been linked to a HRC/RNC blog, and is mercifully free of trolls.

3.
On May 11th, 2008 at 4:01 pm, David said:

McCain is the reason why we found out about Jack Abramoff. McCain lead the investigation against Jack Abramoff. McCain’s money dried up last year because of that. McCain took the side of american indians against Abramoff.

McCain passed his lobbyist test. He went after Abramoff even though he knew it could cost him the chairmanship of the senate armed services committee. Because of McCain burns lost his re-election and several republicans went to jail.

McCain is hated by K Street. Washington post had a story how they hate McCain. McCain goes after drug companies. He wants to import prescription drugs from canada. Lobbyists hate McCain. McCain has gone after tabacco companies.

This whole storyline that McCain is a stooge for lobbyists is nothing but lies. But the same people telling those lies are fit to shine McCain’s shoes. These bloggers who never sacrificed anything for their country love to smear McCain.

4.
On May 11th, 2008 at 4:03 pm, David said:

Yeah McCain the guy who calls drug companies evil is somehow a stooge for lobbyists. You bloggers love to lie. That is all you can do is lie, lie. lie because you know the truth McCain is a man of honor. You people are shameful.

5.
On May 11th, 2008 at 4:04 pm, David said:

The democrats are getting more money from big business than McCain. McCain is hated by big business. But don’t let that get in your way of lying. You have lied about everything. You lie that a POW is somehow like Bush. You people are a joke.

6.
On May 11th, 2008 at 4:05 pm, mrs panstreppon said:

Most people don’t realize that the DCI Group played a huge role in the 2004 campaign and is looking to play an even bigger one this year.

I’ve been researching American Future Fund and I am 99.5% certain that Brian Kennedy, a DCI Group exec based in Iowa, is behind AFF. Kennedy is the co-founder of the notoriously successful 527, Progress For America.

Chris Cizzilla in the Washington Post reported that AFF is “widely rumored to be the most likely conduit for soft-money donations to be spent on some of the most hotly contested Senate races this fall.” This correlates with what Peter Stone wrote in the National Journal a few weeks ago about Karl Rove coordinating the campaign efforts of independent groups at the presidential, senate and congressional levels.

7.
On May 11th, 2008 at 4:09 pm, David said:

What about Mark Penn’s ties to lobbyists. Columbia ring a bell. That was the head of her campaign. What about mega lobbyist Harold Ickes.

The ukranian stuff was known because the guy is partner in Davis’s company. Goodyear wasn’t close to McCain’s staff.

DCI groups are usually the type of groups that run conventions. There staffs run the convention floor. They aren’t making policy decisions.

They hire those groups to run conventions because they have the manpower to do it. All the staff comes from the group.

8.
On May 11th, 2008 at 4:25 pm, Dale said:

Pretty soon, empty bus.

9.
On May 11th, 2008 at 4:32 pm, Dale said:

David said…a bunch of crap

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/23/03912/3990/390/462347

The flipflopper has struck again. Anything to be President.

10.
On May 11th, 2008 at 4:42 pm, The Answer is Orange said:

Shorter GOP: Just remember kids, lying, cheating, robbin’ and stealin’ isn’t wrong unless you get caught.

11.
On May 11th, 2008 at 5:39 pm, OkieFromMuskogee said:

Dale - that dailykos link is outstanding. Thanks.

But I don’t think anything will convince David. Facts will only confuse him.

12.
On May 11th, 2008 at 6:07 pm, little bear said:

mclame is one of the Keating 5 - actually the 6th member - he played a pivotal role in the largest scam the world had yet seen.

His wealthy wife made a fortune off this - yeah, right, straigh-taker, sure….

Cindy can’t release her taxes now cuz they will show that she profits immensely off the military-industrial complex, record oil company profits, and all kinds of crooked chicanery.

13.
On May 11th, 2008 at 6:24 pm, Former Dan said:

Dale,

Jeebus! That’s a potential disaster for McCain. Also doesn’t look good for the Dems on the committee either.

They should start digging deeper. Conspiracy and blackmail…

14.
On May 11th, 2008 at 6:31 pm, mrs panstreppon said:

Re McCain and the Abramoff hearings - Senator Byron Dorgan could blvw the lid off of McCain’s Abramoff hearings if he wanted to.

When Italia Federici and Steven Griles testified before the committee, McCain already knew that Federici and Griles had a long time affair but he chose to cover the fact up. He also knew how close Federici was ery close to Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

McCain was doing damage control, not conducting an investigation. In particular, he was protecting Norton.

15.
On May 11th, 2008 at 7:48 pm, Steve said:

I’m surprised that none of the old hands have cracked a McPhony “Burma Shave” joke or two. After all, he’s cutting it damned close with all these “allegedly good” lobbyists on his campaign.

And I look forward to Mr. Almost-Sank-an-Aircraft-Carrier trying to dig his way out, when he wakes up the day after the election and discovers that some guy named Barack is the President-Elect. Maybe his pen(itentiary) pal McConnell can figure out how to “41″ the GOP Senate’s way around wholesale executive-order investigations….

16.
On May 11th, 2008 at 8:38 pm, libra said:

The lingering oddity is that the McCain team knew that their lobbying connections were controversial, and that the lobbyists-turned-campaign-staffers might be scrutinized based on their client list. — CB

Since McCain’t has oodles of lobbyists around him, chances are that some of them might have escaped scrutiny, which is, probably, what he’s been counting on. Ukraine had been on everyone’s radar recently, because of the “orange revolution”, so the guy representing Yanukovich might have been considered too obvious.

But, nobody was paying much attention to Burma… Until the cyclone hit, and everyone’s eyes swivelled to the junta’s reprehensible behaviour vis receiving help. Once Burma was in the spotlight, all kinds of cockroaches started scuttling around and became exposed. Perhaps the insurance companies were onto something, when they called things like cyclones “”acts of God”… Though it would be nice if the rest of his campaign staff and “peripherals” got similar scrutiny without such “acts”.

TR, @2

You spoke too soon! :)

17.
On May 11th, 2008 at 10:24 pm, Christopher said:

None of this would have come to light if a pesky cyclone hadn’t devastated Burma, bringing into focus the awfulness of the regime in charge there. A week and a half ago most Americans couldn’t have identified Burma from Belgium.

18.
On May 12th, 2008 at 12:10 am, petorado said:

Why would McCain hire so many lobbyists? For the money. These lobbyists are the IPO to McCain’s election campaign. Get in on the ground floor while the going is cheap.

But I still think there is a flaw in this strategy. While the big money felt free to throw down cash for Bush, they did so because Bush was an opportunity — George lit up the “we’re open for corruption” sign and big money flocked to it. With McCain, it’s easy to get the feeling John knows where the bodies are buried (a la the link Dale provided.) The moneyed classes may be hedging their bets by supporting McCain because he has years of collecting dirt to his advantage. But speaking of hedging, we’ve seen how hedge funds have been doing lately and using fear as a weapon has a way of turning people against you, eventually.

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