McCain says his lobbyists are ‘honorable,’ but they don’t work for ‘legitimate’ causes he picks

Sen. John McCain is defending the private work performed by his campaign staff, many of whom earn healthy livings off the campaign trail as registered federal lobbyists. Although the so-called “maverick” Arizona lawmaker has long fought to minimize the role of special interests in electoral politics, McCain called his senior campaign staff “honorable” for their lobbying work.
“These people have honorable records, and they’re honorable people, and I’m proud to have them as part of my team,” he declared in Indianapolis, blaming the system and not the individuals who work within it for unduly influencing policy-making.

McCain later went on to say, “The right to represent interests or groups of Americans is a constitutional right. There are people that represent firemen, civil servants, retirees, and those people are legitimate representatives of a variety of interests in America.”

Unfortunately for McCain, a review of federal records maintained by the Senate Office of Public Records show that the lobbyists at the top of the senator’s campaign and senatorial staffs do not represent fire fighters, civil servants, or retirees, the legitimate causes he identified in his address on Friday.

According to the SOPR database, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) does its own lobbying, and has also employed Dutko Worldwide, McAllister and Quinn, and Valis and Keelen, LLC.

The American Association of Retired People (AARP) also does much of its own lobbying, and has at times retained Bracewell & Giuliani, CJ Strategies, Davis, Wright Tremaine, LLP, Duberstein Group, Ernst & Young, Fleishman-Hillard Goverment Relations, Innovative Federal Strategies, Mark J. Iwry, Johnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland, and Stewart, and Reinecke Strategic Solutions.

Finally, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) does much of its own lobby work, too, and has also paid Jefferson Government Relations and Lussier, Gregor, Vienna and Associates. At the federal level, the American Federation of Government Employees is a member of the AFL-CIO, and has been represented by mCapitol Management, and Murphy, Frazer, and Selfridge.

A report in Friday’s Washington Post noted some of the lobbying firms that McCain’s lieutenants are members of: Rick Davis of Davis Manafort; Charles Black at BKSH and Associates; Steve Schmidt of Mercury Public Affairs; Marc McKinnon of Public Strategic, Inc.; Mark Buse of ML Strategies; and, Tom Loeffler of the Loeffler Group.

None of these firms are in the employ of the main representatives of the causes McCain identified as having a legitimate need to lobby government: fire fighters, civil servants, and retirees. Which begs the question: if these causes are honorable, why aren’t McCain’s top advisers lobbying on their behalf?

And why are they instead representing large corporations, including AT&T, Verizon, JP Morgan, Land O’Lakes, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and Toyota? Does McCain think these interests are on the same plane as fire fighers, civil servants, and retirees?

Ultimately, though, McCain seems unfazed by the revolving door nature of the lobbyists who run his campaign.

“I’m proud of the record of many of my advisers. One small example, Charlie Black. Charlie Black was involved in the first Reagan campaign, and he’s been involved in every national presidential campaign since,” the senator said at the rally.

The Raw Story | Michael Roston | February 22, 2008