rssMcCain Helped Keating Friend in ’05
Tuesday, October 07, 2008 at 5:45 pm
- 3 Comments
When the Latch School, an Arizona special education institution, asked Sen. John McCain in 2003 to help it secure a $288,000 grant from the Federal Communications Commission — after the school’s request was denied in 2002 — his office didn’t appear to do much.
In 2005, the school made another plea for help to McCain, and this time his office “sprang into action,” writing three letters in as many months on Latch’s behalf.
What happened between 2003 and 2005?
According to the New York Daily News, the Latch School appointed Mark Voigt, an old friend, donor and associate of Charles H. Keating Jr., as the head of its board.
Voigt had been the vice president of Charles Keating’s holding company, the American Continental Corp., when Keating was breaking all those banking laws in the ’80s and his associates donated more than $100,000 to McCain.
In 2005, Voigt wrote McCain about the matter, and his office followed up with three letters in three months and finally got action.
Again, it appears to be a worthy cause and the kind of thing legislators do for constituents all the time, but to Democrats, it shows that McCain does do favors for people, in spite of claims from advisers like Charlie Black who said last February, “John McCain does favors for no one.” And in this case, it would be someone tied to a time McCain would like to forget, but which the Obama campaign now wants everybody to remember.
Sure, what McCain did was a legitimate service that any number of senators do for their constituents.
But when companies like, say, Freddie Mac, keep an old McCain friend like Rick Davis on the payroll for no other reason than his close ties to the man who may be president, would they be more likely to have the president’s ear in a McCain administration?
3 Comments
Comment posted October 7, 2008 @ 5:52 pm
Do Seniors’ Deserve This?
While the cost of living has quadrupled, the group of people most negatively affected group in the society is the seniors, who are on fixed income. And some of us who had managed to invest in stocks and lived on interest income during the boom years in the mid to late 1980s have just witnessed the major evaporation of our life saving. We not only lost the interest income but the principle as well. Surprisingly, it does not appear that the down slope of our standard of living would soon improve. On Sunday, I could not believe listening to statements by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Sen. McCain's senior policy adviser that if elected, Senator McCain intends to reduce medicare and medicaid spending to offset tax cuts pay for his proposed health plan. He further elaborated by saying that the savings would come from eliminating or reforming payment policies to lower the overall cost of care. He will also increase medicare premiums for the wealthier seniors. The more I think about I get very distressed that the ills of this generation are being pushed to its seniors and future generations. It is not fair.
Comment posted October 10, 2008 @ 2:43 pm
I think that the important question is “What did McCain learn from the Keating Five?”
He clearly did not learn that deregulation of the S&L industry which cost thousands their savings and pensions was a bad thing.
He clearly did not learn that deregulation of the Finance Industry which is costing millions their 401k and pensions and savings, is a bad thing.
He has even found ways to cheat his own Campaign Finance Reform.
How can we reward a man who was unable to learn a thing from what he has described as “his most horrible personal event”?
I say we defeat McCain in 2008.
Comment posted October 10, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
I think that the important question is “What did McCain learn from the Keating Five?”
He clearly did not learn that deregulation of the S&L industry which cost thousands their savings and pensions was a bad thing.
He clearly did not learn that deregulation of the Finance Industry which is costing millions their 401k and pensions and savings, is a bad thing.
He has even found ways to cheat his own Campaign Finance Reform.
How can we reward a man who was unable to learn a thing from what he has described as “his most horrible personal event”?
I say we defeat McCain in 2008.
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