HuffPo: McCain Co-Chair Hit For Fraud, Extortion

[Coexist]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/22/rick-renzi-indicted-mcca_n_87974.html



Renzi is listed as an Arizona co-chair McCain's website.

Paul Kiel breaks down the indictment:

The charges boil down to this, basically. Renzi is charged with doing everything he can as a congressman to strong-arm others into buying land from his buddy James Sandlin -- Sandlin then allegedly kicked back sizable chunks of cash back to Renzi in a series of complicated financial transactions (thus the money laundering charge). The main details of these charges were reported by the Arizona papers and The Wall Street Journal last year.


John McCain was asked about the indictment in Indianapolis today:

"I'm sorry obviously, you always feel for the family as you know he has 12 children. But I don't know enough of the details or anything to make a judgment, this kind of thing is always, is always very unfortunate. I rely on our department of justice and our system of justice to make the right outcome."

[shain from kane]

1. I relied on the Department of Justice to indict you for influence peddling

as part of the Keating Five. Should I hold my breath until the Department of Justice indicts you for influence peddling in the latest lobbying case?

[Coexist]

2. MCain's Ties To Lobbyists = Telecom Immunity

maybe this will help?

MCain's Ties To Lobbyists = Telecom Immunity
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/02/mcains-ties-to-lobbyists-telec.php

It turns out McCain 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis is even more controversial. Last month the WaPo hit Rick Davis for setting up a McCain meet with gangster-linked Putin-pal billionaire Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska. At the time Davis was still at his own lobby firm Davis Manafort where his biggest clients were telecom giants SBC Global AT&T and Verizon. According to Open Secrets between 1998-99 & 2003-05 Davis Manafort raked in at total of $670,000 SBC Global AT&T bucks. From 2003-2005 Verizon tossed him a cool $540,000.

While Iseman and Buse do not seem to have di interest in telecom immunity, McCain 2008 Campaign Manager Rick Davis sure does. "Straight Talk" McCain's recent vote to keep telecom immunity in Bush's wiretapping bill appears not like a vote to keep us safer but a vote for Davis' once and future clients. McCain's continued support of telecom immunity is a fait accompli.

This raises the question: In what other ways would "Honest Johnny" McCain favor the special interests he used to rail against once he's President and at what cost to the average citizen?

Let's all agree right now to not find out. Please.

[seafan]

3. Repost:: McCain connection in FBI case in Miami (money laundering scheme)

FBI uncovers drug money-for-aircraft laundering scheme through Miami bank (McCain connection), February 8, 2008


The Chairman of the Commerce Bank in Miami that is named in this lawsuit is Dennis Nixon.

Dennis Nixon is the South Texas Co-chair of John McCain's campaign.


Is anyone working on this angle?



Another link: FBI probes purchases of US aircraft by drug lords, February 4, 2008

[Coexist]

5. McCain's Co-Chairs sure are slimy!

Lie down with dogs...

[Alexander]

4. Renzi's also the guy caught canoodling with Katherine Harris.

As John McCain said, "you always feel for the family as you know he has 12 children."

[Coexist]

6. Eew... I had forgotten about that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIYOmhMMtjc

[ProSense]

7. McCain has got big troubles

Oops ...

02.22.08 -- 12:48PM
By Josh Marshall

I was wondering when we'd hear from Isikoff on this McCain business. (Remember, he was one of the other reporters in the hunt, one or more of whom seems to have prompted the Times to pull the trigger.) It seems that one of McCain's sweeping denials from that presser yesterday morning is contradicted by a very good source: a deposition McCain gave back in 2002. Isikoff's got the details.

Let's step back for a moment from this particular 'misrecollection'. Watching McCain over the last couple days particularly and in general over many years, the guy really has a problem with making blanket and obviously false denials. In fact, the obviousness is often so extreme that it can't be a matter of strategy, at least not in a very thought out sense. In this case, he makes a blanket statement and there's a written record of McCain himself contradicting his statement. You'll notice also yesterday he grandly stated that he'd never spoken with the Times about the story. Then about 30 seconds later a reporter brought up the pretty obvious point that, well ... the article discusses McCain's talk with Bill Keller. And of course McCain quickly backtracks, since clearly what he had just said was completely ridiculous.

You'll also notice, though I'm not sure anyone has really made this point that clearly, that he also claimed that he and his office hadn't tried to prevent the Times from publishing the story. Well, pulling out all the stops and having all these conversations with the Times and hiring Bob Bennett to go toe to toe with them probably counts as trying to stop the story.

Then there's this video ThinkProgress came up with yesterday where McCain tells a New Hampshire townhall meeting that he says: "Everybody says that they’re against the special interests. I’m the only one the special interests don’t give any money to."

It's almost too ridiculous to even try refuting. Needless to say McCain gets tons of money and always has from pretty much all the same special interests that everyone else gets money from.

There's no way of getting around the fact that McCain routinely, almost constantly, issues categorical denials that are demonstrably false. The very volume and clarity of the bogusness of so many of these statements might even be viewed as his best defense.

Lest anyone say that McCain simply said they didn't discuss a letter, read the rest of the quote that Newsweek left out:

No representative of Paxson or Alcalde and Fay discussed with Senator McCain the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proceeding regarding the transfer of Pittsburgh public television station (WQED) to Cornerstone Broadcasting and Cornerstone Broadcasting’s television station (WPCB) to Paxson. No representative of Paxson or Alcalde and Fay personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter to the FCC regarding this proceeding.

So McCain said this week that he did not discuss the matter with anyone from Iseman's firm. But in 2002 in a sworn deposition he said he did. So, perjury, liar, or just losing his memory?

link

Deposition linked to here.

More on the indictment of Renzi, a co-chair of McCain's campaign, for extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other charges.

[Coexist]

8. maybe being pushed to the back of the plane will

throw some water on the fires of the press-love for McCain.

[ProSense]

9. His troubles are getting bigger

Paxson Refreshes McCain’s Memory

By: emptywheel Friday February 22, 2008 5:37 pm

Rut Roh.

Bud Paxson's memory seems to corroborate that of McCain's former aides and McCain's signed deposition, both of which suggest that McCain met with Paxson--and Iseman--personally before he sent his letters to the FCC. Or, to put it another way, Paxson says McCain's little promises yesterday were false.

more

[angie_love]

10. were they pushed back of the plane? can you elaborate? Thanks!

Looking for more info as to whether there will be other stories about McCains troubles or whether this is the end.

[Coexist]

11. here

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/22/the-maverick-is-mad-at-reporters/

The Maverick is mad at reporters.Newsweek reports that the McCain campaign — including the senator himself — is so bitter about the recent New York Times story that it is shunning campaign reporters to the back of the plane:

John McCain’s campaign plane is usually a pretty jovial place to be. <…>

But in the aftermath of today’s New York Times story looking at McCain’s dealings with a Washington lobbyist, the mood is decidedly different. Before McCain boarded his plane, reporters were asked to sit farther back than usual on the plane. And when McCain finally boarded the plane, he failed to offer his usual wave at reporters and opted to quickly take his seat. During the flight, the cabin was unusually quiet, save a few quick discussions McCain had with top aides Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter. Near the end of the flight, Schmidt came back to the press cabin, where, with cameras off, he railed against the New York Times for publishing its story.

At least he didn’t call them “f–ing jerks.”

[angie_love]

12. thanks!!

[mcg]

13. "Renzi Allegedly Funded First House Race With Embezzled Money"

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/22/politics/politico/thecrypt/main3866700.shtml

Renzi Allegedly Funded First House Race With Embezzled Money
By John Bresnahan, Feb 22, 2008

(The Politico) The Federal Election Commission audited now indicted Rep. Rick Renzi's (R-Ariz.) 2001-02 campaign back in '04 and identified more than $369,000 in "impermissible corporate funds" given by Renzi to his campaign committee. Renzi and his attorneys said that the money was from "personal funds" and thus allowable, and the FEC, despite numerous questions about the source of the funds, took no formal action against him. Renzi had used that disputed money in 2002 to narrowly defeat Democrat George Cordova, winning with only 49% of the vote in a close general-election race.

Now, however, the Justice Department has a different explanation for where that money came from - Renzi and a business associate named Andrew Beardall were allegedly skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Renzi-owned insurance company, and Renzi steered more than $400,000 of stolen money into his first run for a House seat. Thus, according to Justice, Renzi - who raised just over $1.65 million during that cycle - basically illegally redirected about a quarter of the money he used to win his race from the customers of one of his companies.

According to Friday's indictement of Renzi, the Arizona Republican "concealed his misappropriation and embezzlement by filing Federal Election Commission Form 3, Reports of Receipts and Disbursements, on or about Jan. 24, 2002, for the final quarter of 2001. During the period Dec. 11, 2001 through Dec. 31, 2001, Renzi claimed total receipts of $404,090.00, all of which he claimed to be loans from himself. In fact, as as Renzi well knew, more than $300,000.00 of those funds constituted insurance premiums that were neither the property of Renzi nor of Renzi and Company."

In total, Renzi allegedly steered $422,000 in embezzled funds to his campaign between Dec. 2001 and March 2002, according to the indictment. Beardall allegedly assisted Renzi in covering up the embezzlement from state insurance regulators in Florida and Virginia. ...

[mcg]

14. Renzi's name has been erased from McCain's website

now: Arizona Leaders stand with John McCain!

http://arizona.johnmccain.com/Content/Default.aspx?area=arizona+Leaders&PageName=Arizona+Leaders


before: Arizona Leaders stand with John McCain!

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:29aSoTCUmUIJ:arizona.johnmccain.com/Content/Default.aspx%3Farea%3Darizona%2BLeaders%26PageName%3DArizona%2BLeaders+%22Arizona+Leaders+stand+with+John+McCain!%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

[mcg]

15. "GOP Congressman and Key McCain Ally Indicted"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20080222/cm_thenation/45289083

The Nation -- Another GOP congressman has been indicted. This time it's Rick Renzi, indicted by a federal grand jury in Arizona today on charges of wire fraud, money laundering and extortion as part of a multimillion dollar land deal that allegedly improperly benefited Renzi and his business partners.

Renzi, a three-time representative from Arizona's First Congressional District who announced his retirement in August, also happens to be a close ally of Senator John McCain. Renzi is a co-chair of McCain's campaign in Arizona. The Arizona Republic describes the two men as "close." In June 2006, McCain sent out a fundraising letter on Renzi's behalf.

"Already his liberal opponents have started advertising on television against him and the Washington liberals have recruited a multi-millionaire from Ohio to challenge him in November," McCain wrote in the e-mail. "Rick's opponent, Ellen Simon, is the former president of the ACLU and has pledged to spend millions of her own dollars to defeat Rick. We simply cannot let this happen," McCain said.

As far back as September 2005, Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington listed Renzi as one of the "most corrupt" members of Congress. News of Renzi's land scheme had been percolating for a long time before it finally became public in October 2006. "Many people had information on Rick Renzi and his corrupt practices in 2006, which is one reason I ran for Congress," says Ellen Simon, a civil rights lawyer who was falsely accused by McCain and others of being president of the ACLU. "At the same time this information was known, John McCain was actively supporting Renzi in the race." ...

emphasis mine