Unsevered Ties? (McCain campaign chief Rick Davis remains an officer with his lobbying firm)

[sabra]

Source: Newsweek

Regulatory filings indicate that McCain campaign chief Rick Davis remains an officer with his lobbying firm.

Michael Isikoff
Newsweek Web Exclusive


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.

Stefanie Mullin, a spokesperson for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which has taken over Freddie Mac and its sister entity Fannie Mae, confirmed Wednesday that the Davis Manafort contract is being terminated. "All lobbying activity has stopped and political consulting contracts at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in the process of being terminated," said Mullin. (Democratic strategist Paul Begala also was on the Freddie Mac payroll, according to sources familiar with the arrangement.)

In its initial statements to reporters this week, the McCain campaign said that the disclosure of the payments from Freddie Mac was irrelevant because Davis, who was never a registered lobbyist for the troubled housing corporation, had severed his relationship with Davis Manafort in 2006, and was no longer drawing any income from it. Jill Hazelbaker, the campaign's communications director, said in an e-mail Tuesday that Davis "left" Davis Manafort in 2006. In a statement attacking The New York Times, posted on the campaign's Web site on Wednesday, campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb said that Davis "separated from his consulting firm, Davis Manafort, in 2006." (A senior campaign official, in an e-mail statement to NEWSWEEK that was not for attribution on Tuesday night, said "Rick is no longer affiliated with the firm.")


Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/id/160713

[Gin]

1. this breaks today and McCain suspends his campaign....

lucky for him there was a big issue to use as cover...how pathetically obvious

[CitizenPatriot]

2. yeah I've been saying that all day

um, hello McCain? Why did you lie to us on national TV and say Rick Davis hadn't taken a dime and wasn't connected to them for years?

NOW during this obvious economic disaster caused by such influence pedaling which served the rich owners instead of the people and allowed this craziness to occur.

good one, JM. Lame Stone.

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

3. Palin tells Couric that Davis "recused" himself from that firm

Hmmm, "recused"

–verb (used with object)
1. to reject or challenge (a judge or juror) as disqualified to act, esp. because of interest or bias.
–verb (used without object)
2. to withdraw from a position of judging so as to avoid any semblance of partiality or bias.

Twice Palin gave her researched speech. We all watch as she evaluates the follow-up question, hesitates, and then parrots word-for-word her previous response.

Give Palin some credit. She was able to parrot an answer each time which came close to the question.

But "recused?" Hardly.

And now we know that her somewhat on-topic response was a lie anyway.

This would be funny if it weren't about leadership of the free world.