Letter to FCC for Vicki's client--McCain: "Appropriate"; FCC Chair: "Highly Unusual"

ProgressiveEconomist

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Feb-21-08 09:57 AM
Original message

Letter to FCC for Vicki's client--McCain: "Appropriate"; FCC Chair: "Highly Unusual"

Edited on Thu Feb-21-08 10:08 AM by ProgressiveEconomist

This tidbit from the Boston Globe 7 years ago calls into question John McCain's strong denials that he ever "betrayed the public trust". IMO, it needs to get much wider circulation.

What do you think?

Wednesday's NY Times story mentioned a letter McCain had written on behalf of Paxson Communications, a major client of Vicki Iseman:

"news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist's clients" ( http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/us/politics/21mccain.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin )

At his Thursday morning 15-minute press conference, McCain admitted he had written the Paxson letter but "thought it was appropriate."

What the reporter did NOT follow up with was the very contrary opinion of its recipient, then FCC chair William Kennard. Kennard evidently found the McCain letter "highly unusual" and inappropriate:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"MCCAIN GETS MONEY/PERKS, PRESSURES FCC -- source: Boston Globe

The Boston Globe is reporting a multitude of instances where Senator John McCain has used his influence to get results from the FCC, which his Committee oversees....

Days before Senator John McCain joined hands with Senator Bill Bradley last month to decry the noxious influence of special interest campaign donors, McCain pressured the Federal Communications Commission to vote on an issue that cleared the way for a major contributor to his presidential campaign to buy a Pittsburgh television station.

McCain, in his bluntly worded Dec. 10 letter to the FCC, did not urge a vote favoring the contributor, Paxson Communications. But he acted at the request of the company's lobbyist, during a period when he used Paxson's corporate jet four times to travel to campaign events -- where he almost always attacks monied special interests.

McCain's intervention in the case drew a speedy, scolding response from William E. Kennard, the FCC chairman, who deemed the Senator's letter "highly unusual'' and suggested it was inappropriate. The Senate Commerce Committee, which McCain heads, oversees the FCC.

Angela J. Campbell, the attorney who represents opponents of the sale to Paxson, went much further, asserting in an interview yesterday that McCain's action was improper, unethical, violated FCC rules barring such contacts on pending FCC matters, and appeared designed to assist a major contributor.

"Senator McCain said, 'Do it by December 15 or explain why,' and the commission jumped to it and did it that very day. The senator's intent was for the FCC to grant the transfer of the TV license, said Campbell, a Georgetown University law professor. McCain's intercession, she added, ''may well have tipped the decision.''

A spokesman for the senator, noting that McCain often sees the FCC deliberative process as molasses-like, said there was no connection between Paxson's political support for McCain -- $20,000 in two concentrated doses from Paxson and its law firm -- and his intercession with the FCC." ( http://www.radiodiversity.com/archives/2000_01.shtml )

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Credit for unearthing this important tidbit goes to DUer orleans, in a post at URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2899117&mesg_id=2899922