rssMcCain Adviser’s Firm On Freddie Mac Payroll Until Last Month
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 9:38 am
- 6 Comments
The magnitude of the hypocrisy of the McCain campaign’s attacks last week against Sen. Barack Obama for his campaign’s ties to Fannie Mae is only now coming to be fully appreciated. On top of The New York Times report Monday that revealed McCain campaign manager Rick Davis received nearly $2 million over five years as the president of the Homeownership Alliance — an organization set up by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to lobby against increased government regulation –The Times reported late Tuesday that Davis’ lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, was STILL on the Freddie Mac payroll until the end of August, to the tune of $15,000 per month since late-2005.
The disclosure undercuts a remark by Mr. McCain on Sunday night that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had had no involvement with the company for the last several years.
Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the two people said.
OK. Davis is a lobbyist — though, as The Times article notes, he has not taken a salary from Davis Manafort since late-2006, but continues to benefit as an equity holder — I get this. McCain campaign spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said that because Davis has foregone his salary, the work does not affect Sen. John McCain.
However, the problem is, what happens when the campaign is over? Presumably, Davis will rejoin his firm — and will he then pretend the firm hasn’t been on the payroll of whatever clients it has had while Davis was working for the campaign? That seems unlikely. Consider the following:
[The Times' sources] said they did not recall Mr. Davis’s doing much substantive work for [Freddie Mac] in return for the money, other than to speak to a political action committee of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the approaching midterm Congressional elections. They said Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, had been kept on the payroll because of his close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who by 2006 was widely expected to run again for the White House.[emphasis added.]
Compare this with a passage from The Times’ article from Monday:
“The value that [Davis] brought to the relationship was the closeness to Senator McCain and the possibility that Senator McCain was going to run for president again, said Robert McCarson, a former spokesman for Fannie Mae, who said that while he worked there from 2000 to 2002, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac together paid Mr. Davis’s firm $35,000 a month. Mr. Davis “didn’t really do anything,” Mr. McCarson, a Democrat, said.
This raises a number of questions: Why do these companies believe maintaining close ties to Davis will be beneficial if McCain reaches the White House? The answer to that one is obvious. But is Davis using his relationship with McCain to attract clients? If so, is McCain aware of this? How can he not be? How does this square with McCain’s pledge to root out the special interests in Washington? If McCain wasn’t aware of Davis’ activities, why isn’t he outraged at these revelations? Most important, does the McCain campaign have any credibility at all?
6 Comments
Comment posted September 24, 2008 @ 7:52 am
The Republicans ( John McCain is one of them) have run this country into the ground–they sit high and mighty and invoke God all the time, when that doesn't work they invoke patriotism —they are the most self righteous hypocrites ever but they live double lives-sex, drugs and rock and roll, lobby firm payoffs, scandals and scandals and more scandals. They have used fear to take away from the citizens of this country: We have lost the freedoms as in not other time in this country, i.e.- the Patriot act and the “executive privilege invoked by our own King George, we have lost our standing in the world, wirh preemptive war in Iraq, and the use and authorization of Torture, we have lost the lives of the young men and women who have fought for the right reasons and been lied to about this war -= not for attrition of 911 but for OIL!, and now we are about to lose our financial system and be plunged into a deepening recession of at least a decade or more.
Enough is enough! If this country can not see beyond the need of its own nose then we deserve the likes of McCain the Insane and Palin (America's Got Talent!) and we deserve to have them tell us that they know best and they will not listen to the voters and the American people. If you do not agree with them-watch out they will stop at no ends to discredit and eliminate you- all the while smiling that creepy smile and winking and crinkle up her nose!.
Comment posted September 24, 2008 @ 9:53 am
very true words Bill………….
we are paying the price now of electing Bush and allowing him to destroy our country….
maybe when it really really hurts in the pocket we will stop ignoring how we have willingly bent over for the gang of crooks that have brought so much horror to the world.
Comment posted September 24, 2008 @ 10:22 am
It is my opinion they may find under the investigation by the FBI that Davis was involved in some shady dealing with recieving that 2 million pay out over 5 yrs, and continue monthly payment to his firm with not service rendered other than Davis hopes that His guy Mccain became president, and open the door to him and his firm to recieve mutiple favors from the sitting president. Even black mail if the president needed to keep curtain things quiet from the public, after he takes office! We can't allow some one to hold the highest office in this land, who has put himself in possition of being black mailed or used in this manner! even fireing Davis at this point, doesn't insure the public that Davis is not holding other actions over Mccains head that Mccain would rather keep private. It may be the reason Davis is not getting fired! Davis may already know to much about Mccain! This is a risk America cannot take a chance on given the fact our economy could very well collapse, and those investigations by the FBI could send variouse congressmen,senators and others to jail once this mess is done and over with! I beg the washington independent to get this information, an senerio's out there to the public, so they know. The way it is now, it seems Mccain/palin are acting like they live in aa communist state like Russia, the way they are black balling the media and the ability for the american people to get to know these candidates in a timely and fort right manner that we need to make a wise vote for our country and our families! This behaviors they have inlisted into their campagne reminds me of the way communist tried to filter into America years ago. It was very small at first and grew like a giant and really hurt Hollywood and other real decent people!
Comment posted September 24, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
The Republicans ( John McCain is one of them) have run this country into the ground–they sit high and mighty and invoke God all the time, when that doesn't work they invoke patriotism —they are the most self righteous hypocrites ever but they live double lives-sex, drugs and rock and roll, lobby firm payoffs, scandals and scandals and more scandals. They have used fear to take away from the citizens of this country: We have lost the freedoms as in not other time in this country, i.e.- the Patriot act and the “executive privilege invoked by our own King George, we have lost our standing in the world, wirh preemptive war in Iraq, and the use and authorization of Torture, we have lost the lives of the young men and women who have fought for the right reasons and been lied to about this war -= not for attrition of 911 but for OIL!, and now we are about to lose our financial system and be plunged into a deepening recession of at least a decade or more.
Enough is enough! If this country can not see beyond the need of its own nose then we deserve the likes of McCain the Insane and Palin (America's Got Talent!) and we deserve to have them tell us that they know best and they will not listen to the voters and the American people. If you do not agree with them-watch out they will stop at no ends to discredit and eliminate you- all the while smiling that creepy smile and winking and crinkle up her nose!.
Comment posted September 24, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
very true words Bill………….
we are paying the price now of electing Bush and allowing him to destroy our country….
maybe when it really really hurts in the pocket we will stop ignoring how we have willingly bent over for the gang of crooks that have brought so much horror to the world.
Comment posted September 24, 2008 @ 5:22 pm
It is my opinion they may find under the investigation by the FBI that Davis was involved in some shady dealing with recieving that 2 million pay out over 5 yrs, and continue monthly payment to his firm with not service rendered other than Davis hopes that His guy Mccain became president, and open the door to him and his firm to recieve mutiple favors from the sitting president. Even black mail if the president needed to keep curtain things quiet from the public, after he takes office! We can't allow some one to hold the highest office in this land, who has put himself in possition of being black mailed or used in this manner! even fireing Davis at this point, doesn't insure the public that Davis is not holding other actions over Mccains head that Mccain would rather keep private. It may be the reason Davis is not getting fired! Davis may already know to much about Mccain! This is a risk America cannot take a chance on given the fact our economy could very well collapse, and those investigations by the FBI could send variouse congressmen,senators and others to jail once this mess is done and over with! I beg the washington independent to get this information, an senerio's out there to the public, so they know. The way it is now, it seems Mccain/palin are acting like they live in aa communist state like Russia, the way they are black balling the media and the ability for the american people to get to know these candidates in a timely and fort right manner that we need to make a wise vote for our country and our families! This behaviors they have inlisted into their campagne reminds me of the way communist tried to filter into America years ago. It was very small at first and grew like a giant and really hurt Hollywood and other real decent people!
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