McCain Money News Roundup
Today brings with it plenty of headlines about John McCain, his fundraising, and his lobbyist allies. Here’s a round-up of what we’ve found so far:
Wealthy Auto Mechanics For McCain? The Washington Post’s Matthew Mosk reports on McCain bundler Harry Sargeant III, who collected checks of at least $2,300 (and up to $4,600) from unlikely sources in California, like an auto mechanic, the manager of a Rite Aid pharmacy, and the owners of a hookah bar. Norman Hsu flashbacks, anyone?
In other tales of dubious donations, McClatchy Newspapers’ Greg Gordon talks to Hess Corp. office manager Alice Rocchio, who, along with her husband, Pasquale – an Amtrak foreman – have given $61,600 to McCain and the Republican National Committee. The article (citing Campaign Money Watch) notes that the money was part of $1.2 million in donations McCain and the RNC received from the oil industry, nearly three-fourths of which came after McCain embraced offshore oil drilling. The Rocchios, despite their middle-class lifestyle, joined members of the Hess family and other top execs in the oil company in donating to McCain. Alice insists she and her husband used their own money to make the donations. (Lobbyist connection: Wayne Berman and John Green have both represented Hess.)
The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Stephen Koff blogs about John McCain’s role in the deal that allowed German-owned shipping giant DHL to buy Airborne Express – a deal which has since gone sour because DHL wants to quit using a Wilmington, Ohio facility it acquired when it purchased Airborne Express (a move that could cost more than 8,000 jobs). But McCain’s ties to this run deeper: DHL wants to contract out some of its shipping operations to rival UPS, which until March 2008, was represented on Capitol Hill by John Green. Green may not be a lobbyist for UPS anymore, but his position as McCain’s congressional liaison means he’s still talking to the members of Congress he was lobbying until months ago. Meanwhile, McCain has said he’ll investigate the deal if elected – well after those 8,000 jobs would be long gone.
Barack Obama may not take money from federal lobbyists, but that doesn’t mean he’s lacking in big money donations, notes The New York Times’ Michael Luo and Christopher Drew.
The Times also reports, in a blog post by Michael Falcone, on McCain’s new ad where he claims to be the “original maverick” who will “battle Big Oil” (we respectfully disagree). The article also gives this site a mention (we respectfully accept the additional traffic).
The Huffington Post’s Robert L. Borosage trashes the new McCain ad, especially the claim about battling Big Oil, using Campaign Money Watch research to make his point.
Progressive Accountability reports that the number of lobbyists staffing, advising and raising money for McCain is now up to a staggering 159.
Heard any other tips or news stories about John McCain and his lobbyist allies? Send them to tips@mccainslobbyists.com.
Tags: Big Oil, bundlers, DHL, Hess, lobbyists, McCain, Obama
