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Former Freddie Mac Lobbyist Now McCain's Senate Aide
DNC - Honest Government - Fri, 10/03/2008 - 12:05
Washington Post reports that Mark Buse, the former staff director for McCain's Senate Commerce Committee in 2001 and 2002, lobbied for Freddie Mac and is now back on the McCain payroll in his Senate office.
When mortgage giant Freddie Mac feared several years ago that Sen. John McCain was too outspoken on the issue of executive pay, it pinpointed a lobbyist known for his closeness to McCain and hired him to work with the senator.
Mark Buse, a longtime McCain adviser who had been staff director of the Senate commerce committee, signed on as a Freddie Mac lobbyist, and his firm, ML Strategies, earned $460,000 in lobbying fees in late 2003 and 2004, according to lobbying disclosures. Buse is now chief of staff at McCain's Senate office.
While McCain made noise about executive pay, as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, he did not hold any hearings on the matter due to "lack of jurisdiction," his campaign says.
McCain continued to talk about the compensation issue. But inside Freddie Mac, Buse's effort was viewed as "hugely successful," a former Freddie Mac lobbyist said. "The statements didn't go away completely, but in terms of Senator McCain doing anything about it, it just never materialized. As far as I know, Buse was the only person working that issue for Fannie or Freddie, so he got a lot of credit internally for the results." [emphasis added]
And McCain's relationship to Buse?
Buse was nicknamed "The Ferret" because he helped his boss, McCain, find pork-barrel provisions buried in legislation. McCain has said he considered Buse to be like a son.
Buse left the commerce committee staff to lobby, signing on clients as diverse as oil giant Exxon Mobil, Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, according to the government records. He also represented telecommunications clients affected by the committee.
Buse returned to McCain's office this year as chief of staff.
Wasn't it John McCain who said that "access is influence"?
Categories: Democratic Party News
''Can't Explain''
DNC - Health Care - Fri, 10/03/2008 - 11:17
Last night at the vice presidential debate, Senator Joe Biden informed the American public on what John McCain plans to do with healthcare -- deregulate it like he deregulated the financial industry and then tax health benefits to pay for a $5,000 tax credit per family that will not even cover half of the healthcare costs of the average American family.
Watch the latest national television ad entitled, "Can't Explain."
Categories: Democratic Party News
McCain's 100 Percent Absolute Truth?
DNC - Honest Government - Thu, 10/02/2008 - 14:30
John McCain tells a lie to cover up all his other lies.
John McCain told the Des Moines Register this week that he always tells "100 percent absolute truth," even in campaign ads. There's one big problem with that bold statement: it's just not true.
We have a list of at least 80 fact checks calling out the lies pushed by John McCain since February. 80!
Update: Spoke too soon -- we've updated it to 81!
Categories: Democratic Party News
Editorial Rips John McCain's Plan for Healthcare
DNC - Health Care - Thu, 10/02/2008 - 12:19
The latest Concord Monitor (NH) editorial ripped John McCain's 'plans' to "blow up" the current healthcare system that would leave far fewer Americans with insurance.
McCain would blow up the current system and ensure that fewer Americans are covered. He wants to eliminate the tax deduction employers get for providing health insurance. Instead, he would give tax credits to individuals and families to make it easier for them to purchase insurance on what he believes will be a new, bigger open market that will compete to lower health care costs. The credits would be $2,500 per individual and $5,000 per family.
There are more components to the McCain plan - portability of insurance from state to state, for example - but none would offset the enormous damage his on-your-own in a wide-open market approach would do.
McCain's "risky" plan would leave the average American family on the hook for thousands of dollars to cover their basic healthcare needs each year.
While the decades-old system of employer-sponsored health insurance has its shortcomings — many small businesses can’t afford to offer it — killing the tax exemption will lead to a stampede of large employers discontinuing their more affordable, group health plans. Those comprehensive plans cost more than $12,000 a year for the average family; with a tax credit of just $5,000, they’d be left to find $7,000 a year to buy comparable coverage. Put simply, the tax-credit scheme won’t work.
And since McCain likes to lie about taxes on the stump and in his attack ads, it is worth noting that McCain recently admitted that his healthcare plan would actually raise taxes on Americans to pay for it.
Categories: Democratic Party News
McCain Repeating Keating Mistakes
DNC - Honest Government - Wed, 10/01/2008 - 11:45
A former regulator from the Savings & Loan scandal twenty-years ago says John McCain is repeating the same mistakes that embroiled him in the Keating Five scandal.
William Black -- a deputy director of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation during the "Keating Five" scandal that nearly ended McCain's political career -- says the Arizona Republican's chief errors at the time were underestimating the importance of regulation and relying too heavily on slanted advice from captains of industry.
"In the S&L crisis, he took his advice from the worst [kind of] criminal. Charles Keating is the person he went to for his policy advice," Black said. "Now, he certainly is getting advice from Phil Gramm, Carly Fiorina, Rick Davis -- the whole group of economic and top political advisers are lobbyist types. He just doesn't seem to get it, ever, that the advice is going to favor their clients. Even if they just stop being lobbyists, you can't just turn that off instantly. It's their mind state that develops. ... The biggest lesson is that, when you deregulate and de-supervise, you create an environment where control fraud emerges. You hyper-inflate bubbles; you get criminalization." [emphasis added]
Categories: Democratic Party News
Casino Lobbyists Betting on McCain
DNC - Honest Government - Tue, 09/30/2008 - 14:41
Check out our latest web video on John McCain's ties to casino lobbyists:
Categories: Democratic Party News
McCain Stacks the Deck for Gambling Industry Lobbyists
DNC - Honest Government - Mon, 09/29/2008 - 12:54
Watch our latest web video on John McCain's ties and favors for gambling lobbyists.
Categories: Democratic Party News
Prosecutor: Stevens Used Oil Co. as a ''Personal Handyman Service''
DNC - Honest Government - Thu, 09/25/2008 - 14:28
The trial of Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) continued this week as prosecutors argued in court that the longtime lawmaker used Veco Corp., the oil company he is accused of accepting illegal gifts, as his own personal Yellow Pages.
Sen. Ted Stevens used one of Alaska's biggest employers as his "own personal handyman service" and never paid Veco Corp. for hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of renovations to his home, a federal prosecutor charged Thursday as she outlined the government's case for finding the Alaska Republican guilty of lying on financial disclosure forms.
"You'll learn that the defendant never paid Veco a dime for the work on the chalet. Not a penny," the Justice Department's lead prosecutor, Brenda Morris, told jurors in the opening minutes of Stevens' trial. [...]
"If the defendant needed an electrician, he contacted Veco. If the defendant needed a plumber, he contacted Veco," she said. "We reach for the Yellow Pages, he reached for Veco."
Meanwhile, the McCain campaign continued to dodge questions about whether John McCain or Sarah Palin support Stevens, or scandal-plagued Rep. Don Young (R-AK).
Updated: The defense argues that Senator Stevens doesn't live in Alaska:
Brendan Sullivan, defense attorney for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), made an admission today that probably isn't going to help his client's re-election changes - Ted Stevens doesn't really live in Alaska, the state he has represented in the Senate for the last 40 years.
Categories: Democratic Party News
Davis Ties to Firm Remain, Records Show
DNC - Honest Government - Thu, 09/25/2008 - 12:35
Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, has remained the treasurer and a corporate director of his lobbying firm this year, despite repeated statements by campaign officials that he had ended his relationship with the firm in 2006, according to corporate records.
The McCain campaign this week criticized news stories disclosing that, since 2006, Davis's firm has been paid a $15,000-a-month consulting fee from Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage giant recently put under federal conservatorship. The stories, published Tuesday by NEWSWEEK, The New York Times and Roll Call, reported that the consulting fees continued until last month even though, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement, neither Davis nor anybody else at his firm did any substantial work for the payments.
Categories: Democratic Party News
Rick Davis' Firm Paid by Freddie Mac through August
DNC - Honest Government - Wed, 09/24/2008 - 12:34
In an interview on the Sunday edition of 60 Minutes, John McCain defended campaign manager Rick Davis and challenged folks to "examine his record." The New York Times did just that and found that Davis' lobbying firm was paid retainers of $15,000 a month through August.
One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.
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. [...]
They said they did not recall Mr. Davis’s doing much substantive work for the company 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.
This latest disclosure did not sit well with government watchdog groups:
In a sharply-worded statement released to the Huffington Post, David Donnelly, director of the watchdog group Campaign Money Watch, said: "John McCain's campaign manager and Freddie Mac essentially had a secret half a million dollar lay-a-way plan. For almost three years, they made secret, monthly payments of $15,000 to Rick Davis for apparently no other work than for him to provide special access to a future McCain White House in exchange. If McCain knew about this, his presidential campaign should be over. If he didn't know about it, he ought to fire Rick Davis immediately."
Categories: Democratic Party News
Bermuda
DNC - Honest Government - Tue, 09/23/2008 - 12:10
John McCain does more than vacation in Bermuda. He speaks to insurance executives who stash their profits in offshore bank accounts to avoid paying American taxes, and John McCain promises to protect them.
Country first? More like McCain first. Watch the latest television advertisement from the Obama campaign.
Categories: Democratic Party News
John McCain: A Risk We Cannot Afford to Take
DNC - Seniors and Retirees - Mon, 09/22/2008 - 12:30
John McCain says he wants to deregulate the healthcare industry just like he and his allies like Phil Gramm did to the banking industry. Watch this latest advertisement from the Obama campaign:
Categories: Democratic Party News
John McCain: A Risk We Cannot Afford to Take
DNC - Health Care - Mon, 09/22/2008 - 12:30
John McCain says he wants to deregulate the healthcare industry just like he and his allies like Phil Gramm did to the banking industry. Watch this latest advertisement from the Obama campaign:
Categories: Democratic Party News
Count the Lies #62: CNN Calls Tax Cut Claim ''Misleading''
News from the DNC - Mon, 09/22/2008 - 12:22
The Democratic National Committee today updated the Count the Lies counter after CNN called one of John McCain's most frequent false attacks on tax cuts "misleading.' As CNN notes, McCain's campaign continues to repeat a long-debunked lie about Senator Obama's voting record despite a clear record of opposing tax increases on the vast majority of American families.
This article is at least the 62nd fact check to debunk McCain campaign lies since he promised to run a respectful campaign in February. Visit www.democrats.org/CountTheLies to see the updated Count the Lies counter.
CNN: McCain Claim on Obama's Tax Cuts Voting Record "Misleading." "The effort to convince voters that Sen. Barack Obama would support higher taxes is a central part of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. McCain and the Republican National Committee have repeatedly cited 94 alleged votes by Obama to bolster their argument. Factcheck.org, a non-partisan project of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, pieced through records to determine just what these 94 votes were… Annenberg says a close look at the record reveals that Obama has "voted consistently to restore higher tax rates on upper-income taxpayers but not on middle- or low-income workers." Verdict: Misleading. McCain's summary ignores the fact that some of the votes were for measures to lower taxes for many Americans, while increasing them for a much smaller number of taxpayers. A nonpartisan examination also finds that the 94 total includes multiple votes on the same measures and budget votes that would not directly lead to higher taxes." [CNN, 9/21/08: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/21/fact-check-did-obama-vote-94-times-for-higher-taxes/]
Categories: Democratic Party News
McCain Adviser Paid $35k/Month to Lobby Against Regulation of Freddie, Fannie
DNC - Honest Government - Mon, 09/22/2008 - 11:45
Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say. [...]
Incensed by the advertisements, several current and former executives of the companies came forward to discuss the role that Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s campaign manager and longtime adviser, played in helping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac beat back regulatory challenges when he served as president of their advocacy group, the Homeownership Alliance, formed in the summer of 2000. Some who came forward were Democrats, but Republicans, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed their descriptions.
Categories: Democratic Party News
Newsweek: Vehicle Records of McCain's 13 Cars Contradict His Boast About Buying American
DNC - Honest Government - Sun, 09/21/2008 - 12:18
Today Newsweek reported that John McCain owns 13 cars - and that contrary to what McCain said in a recent TV interview, the fleet includes three foreign cars. The report shows that McCain wasn't being honest with voters during a recent interview with WXYZ TV in Detroit when he said: "I've bought American literally all my life, and I'm proud."
McCain made the comments while defending his purchase of foreign hybrid vehicle - a purchase he denied making despite having bragged about it in South Carolina last year.
In addition to the foreign hybrid he bragged about last year, Newsweek reports that McCain's fleet of 13 vehicles includes a Lexus, a 2005 Volkswagen convertible, and a 2001 Honda sedan.
In a conference call today to respond to the latest news of John McCain not being straight with working families, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said:
"In an interview a few weeks ago with a Detroit TV station, John McCain said, and I quote, "I've bought American literally all my life, and I'm proud." That may be a nice campaign line, but it turns out that John McCain wasn't being straight with the people of Detroit-in fact, John McCain owns 13 cars, including a foreign made Lexus, a Volkswagon, and a Honda Sedan-on top of the Toyota Prius that he bragged about buying just last year. People are free to buy any kind of car they want-that isn't the issue here. What is the issue is that the American auto industry, and American voters, deserve a president who will be straight with them. If we can't trust John McCain on something as simple as what kind of cars he owns, how can we trust him when he talks about investing in American jobs. "Buy American" can't just be a slogan that John McCain rolls out when he is in Michigan. It's insulting to our members. We need a president who's committed to rebuilding the auto industry here America, not a President who buys foreign cars and then lies about when he thinks autoworkers are watching."
Read the Newsweek article here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/160091
Watch McCain's interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0QRapvB9xc
Listen to the entire conference call here: http://s3.amazonaws.com/apache.3cdn.net/42d2c75ecce177d0f3_mlbrgaxho.mp3
Categories: Democratic Party News
Newsweek: Vehicle Records of McCain's 13 Cars Contradict His Boast About Buying American
News from the DNC - Sun, 09/21/2008 - 12:18
Today Newsweek reported that John McCain owns 13 cars - and that contrary to what McCain said in a recent TV interview, the fleet includes three foreign cars. The report shows that McCain wasn't being honest with voters during a recent interview with WXYZ TV in Detroit when he said: "I've bought American literally all my life, and I'm proud."
McCain made the comments while defending his purchase of foreign hybrid vehicle - a purchase he denied making despite having bragged about it in South Carolina last year.
In addition to the foreign hybrid he bragged about last year, Newsweek reports that McCain's fleet of 13 vehicles includes a Lexus, a 2005 Volkswagen convertible, and a 2001 Honda sedan.
In a conference call today to respond to the latest news of John McCain not being straight with working families, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said:
"In an interview a few weeks ago with a Detroit TV station, John McCain said, and I quote, "I've bought American literally all my life, and I'm proud." That may be a nice campaign line, but it turns out that John McCain wasn't being straight with the people of Detroit-in fact, John McCain owns 13 cars, including a foreign made Lexus, a Volkswagon, and a Honda Sedan-on top of the Toyota Prius that he bragged about buying just last year. People are free to buy any kind of car they want-that isn't the issue here. What is the issue is that the American auto industry, and American voters, deserve a president who will be straight with them. If we can't trust John McCain on something as simple as what kind of cars he owns, how can we trust him when he talks about investing in American jobs. "Buy American" can't just be a slogan that John McCain rolls out when he is in Michigan. It's insulting to our members. We need a president who's committed to rebuilding the auto industry here America, not a President who buys foreign cars and then lies about when he thinks autoworkers are watching."
Read the Newsweek article here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/160091
Watch McCain's interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0QRapvB9xc
Listen to the entire conference call here: http://s3.amazonaws.com/apache.3cdn.net/42d2c75ecce177d0f3_mlbrgaxho.mp3
Categories: Democratic Party News
Virginians Hit McCain on New Call to Let Health Insurance Industry Run Amok
DNC - Health Care - Sun, 09/21/2008 - 12:16
In light of this week's Wall Street upheaval, today Judy Feder, Democratic nominee for US Representative from Virginia's 10th Congressional District, Barbara Favola, Vice Chair of the Arlington County Board and a member of Virginia's State Health Board, and concerned Virginians held a press conference outside of John McCain's campaign headquarters in Arlington, VA to challenge McCain's new magazine article calling for the deregulation of the health insurance companies "just as we have done over the last decade in banking." McCain's article was just published in the September/October issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. In spite of the unprecedented crisis created by Bush-McCain deregulatory policies, McCain wants to put Americans' health care at risk with the same approach.
The text of McCain's call for deregulating health insurance companies follows:
"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation." - John McCain
Below are excerpts from the press conference:
Judy Feder, Democratic nominee for US Representative from Virginia's 10th Congressional District:
"We're here today, all of us, to repudiate Senator McCain's call to deregulate the health insurance companies. Senator McCain wrote in this month's issue of an insurance magazine that we should deregulate the insurance companies--and I quote--'as we have done over the last decade in banking.' In other words, John McCain wants to run the health care industry just like they've been running Wall Street--straight into the ground...After risking the American people's retirement and jeopardizing the economic security of our country, now they want Americans to suffer the same uncertainty about their health care...I'm here today, as someone who has spent my life trying to get everybody affordable health care and fix our broken system, and I'm here to say to John McCain: No way. It's a risk we can't afford."
Barbara Favola, Vice Chair of the Arlington County Board and a member of Virginia's State Health Board:
"The election before us is about choices. As we stand before John McCain's campaign headquarters and one of his homes, one of his many homes, John McCain's risky health care plan won't do a whole lot to help the people I just talked about...working families need someone who will stand up for them, someone who will tell the oil lobbyists, the insurance companies, and other special interest groups that the average American must come first. Can we trust John McCain to deliver that message? No. On the other hand Barack Obama understands the struggles of working class families. He understands that access to health care is a basic necessity of life and the pursuit of happiness and the American dream really don't happen until these basic necessities are taken care of. Barack Obama has a package that respects American families that tells them they are valued and helps them provide for their children and their future."
Categories: Democratic Party News
Virginians Hit McCain on New Call to Let Health Insurance Industry Run Amok
News from the DNC - Sun, 09/21/2008 - 12:16
In light of this week's Wall Street upheaval, today Judy Feder, Democratic nominee for US Representative from Virginia's 10th Congressional District, Barbara Favola, Vice Chair of the Arlington County Board and a member of Virginia's State Health Board, and concerned Virginians held a press conference outside of John McCain's campaign headquarters in Arlington, VA to challenge McCain's new magazine article calling for the deregulation of the health insurance companies "just as we have done over the last decade in banking." McCain's article was just published in the September/October issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. In spite of the unprecedented crisis created by Bush-McCain deregulatory policies, McCain wants to put Americans' health care at risk with the same approach.
The text of McCain's call for deregulating health insurance companies follows:
"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation." - John McCain
Below are excerpts from the press conference:
Judy Feder, Democratic nominee for US Representative from Virginia's 10th Congressional District:
"We're here today, all of us, to repudiate Senator McCain's call to deregulate the health insurance companies. Senator McCain wrote in this month's issue of an insurance magazine that we should deregulate the insurance companies--and I quote--'as we have done over the last decade in banking.' In other words, John McCain wants to run the health care industry just like they've been running Wall Street--straight into the ground...After risking the American people's retirement and jeopardizing the economic security of our country, now they want Americans to suffer the same uncertainty about their health care...I'm here today, as someone who has spent my life trying to get everybody affordable health care and fix our broken system, and I'm here to say to John McCain: No way. It's a risk we can't afford."
Barbara Favola, Vice Chair of the Arlington County Board and a member of Virginia's State Health Board:
"The election before us is about choices. As we stand before John McCain's campaign headquarters and one of his homes, one of his many homes, John McCain's risky health care plan won't do a whole lot to help the people I just talked about...working families need someone who will stand up for them, someone who will tell the oil lobbyists, the insurance companies, and other special interest groups that the average American must come first. Can we trust John McCain to deliver that message? No. On the other hand Barack Obama understands the struggles of working class families. He understands that access to health care is a basic necessity of life and the pursuit of happiness and the American dream really don't happen until these basic necessities are taken care of. Barack Obama has a package that respects American families that tells them they are valued and helps them provide for their children and their future."
Categories: Democratic Party News
In His Own Words
DNC - Health Care - Sat, 09/20/2008 - 13:59
Paul Krugman, columnist for the New York Times, found a gem in the latest issue of Contingencies Magazine:
Here’s what McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform: Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.So McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial deregulation like 10 seconds ago — and promising that if we marketize health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!
Consider this an open thread. Chat away...
Categories: Democratic Party News
