The (Nearly) $1 Billion Connection: McCain And His Lobbyists' Clients

The (Nearly) $1 Billion Connection: McCain And His Lobbyists' Clients

www.campaignmoney.org

Campaign Money Watch, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog group, announced today the result of a new analysis of the fees Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) lobbyist bundlers, advisors and staff members have collected from domestic clients over the past decade.

The total? A staggering $930,949,819.

“The McCain campaign relies on big money lobbyists, and they’ll rely on him,” said David Donnelly, director of Campaign Money Watch. “In the ‘you-scratch-my-back, I’ll-scratch-yours’ world of Washington, $931 million gets the special interests the best government money can buy. But just think of the payday these lobbyists might expect in a McCain Administration.”

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.mccainslobbyists.com
www.huffingtonpost.com

[edit on 8/14/2008 by Keyhole]

If you want big corporations to run the country, then McCain is the man to vote for!

A president should not be influenced by anything but THE PEOPLE that voted him in there and who represents to the rest of the world.

Most of McCain immediate campaign staff are even lobbyists! Don't you think they are trying to influence McCain on behalf of their clients?

Why would somebody surround himself with sooo many lobbyists????

Campaign Money Watch’s analysis of data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org...) also found that employees and Political Action Committees of these lobbyists’ clients have donated $11,750,051 to McCain’s campaigns, a fact that raises its own set of problems, Donnelly said.

“How can John McCain say he’ll reduce the influence of special interests in Washington, when he’s so fully dependent on lobbyists and their clients to finance his campaign?” Donnelly asked. “All candidates need to raise money, but is this exemplary of a candidate who claims he’ll tackle the special interests?”

If McCain ever gets elected, rest assured "the good of the people" will take a back seat to "the good of big corporations."

This is a prime example why big corporations should not be able to lobby our elected politicians in Washington! Heck, it looks like McCain turned lobbying into his own private business!

Do you think that if McCain is elected president these big corporations who dished out almost $1 BILLION won't want some pay back?


www.campaignmoney.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 8/14/2008 by Keyhole]

Here's an interesting website that shows where all this money came from, pretty well done I think.

McCain Lobbyists
(Please take a look at this website)

According to the above website, McCain collected about $30 million himself (if you ask me, lobbying should be illegal, it's nothing more than corp. bribing our politicians for their own selfish gain)!

And here's a little "online" news report on youtube about this ....

McCain Lobbyist Have Made $1 Billion


Does McCain EVER make his own mind up on how to vote on Bills in Congress, I would think that the corporations that handed almost $1 BILLION over in order to lobby him would have left little room for him to make his OWN decisions!

So what would happen, and what will these corporations expect, if McCain becomes president!


[edit on 8/14/2008 by Keyhole]

While I agree with your posts regarding McCain's lobbyist connections, I fail to understand how that differentiates him from the other candidates. If not directly, then through their parties, they are beholden to the same lobbyists, who have ensured themselves a win-win by controlling the candidate selection process in either major political club.

reply to post by Maxmars


True, the two parties do lobbying that their party is suppose to follow, but I believe McCain has taken this "lobbying" business of his to a whole different level.

I believe it IS a business to him! He did make about $30 million!

I would be VERY surprised if any other member of Congress has made THAT much on lobbyists!

Corporations have paid lobbyists almost $1 billion to lobby McCain on their behalf, in order for them to have spent sooo much time and money on him, he must be recieving these lobbyists with open arms, otherwise they would have been wasting their money.

I tried searching on the web but couldn't find out about what corporations may have spent to lobby other members of Congress, but couldn't find any info..

I'm sure McCain HAS to be at the top of the list with this amount of money spent on him though!

Here's an article from 2007

HuffPost Exclusive: More Lobbyists On McCain Staff Than Any Other 08 Candidate

John McCain, who made his name attacking special interests, has more lobbyists working on his staff or as advisers than any of his competitors, Republican or Democrat.

A Huffington Post examination of the campaigns of the top three presidential candidates in each party shows that lobbyists are playing key roles in both Democratic and Republican bids --although they are far more prevalent on the GOP side. But, all the campaigns pale in comparison to McCain's, whose rhetoric stands in sharp contrast to his conduct.

"Too often the special interest lobbyists with the fattest wallets and best access carry the day when issues of public policy are being decided," McCain asserts on his web site, declaring that he "has fought the 'revolving door' by which lawmakers and other influential officials leave their posts and become lobbyists for the special interests they have aided."

Hypocrite? You decide.

All told, there are 11 current or former lobbyists working for or advising McCain, at least double the number in any other campaign.

Lobbyists advising McCain!

Now, don't you think these lobbyists will be "lobbying" McCain for their clients?

Did you look at the link I posted earlier? Did you see how much money these lobbyists make?
McCain Lobbyists

Do you really think they are passing all this money by and won't be lobbying McCain?

Do you REALLY think lobbyists should be ADVISING our politicians?

On the other side of the aisle, Democratic campaigns have fewer ties with lobbyists.

Of the leading Democratic candidates, Barack Obama is the least entangled with K Street. His campaign has no lobbyists on the payroll or serving as key advisers.

Obama is followed by John Edwards

The levels vary on how much each politician in D.C. allows himself to be "lobbied", some think it's great, others don't like it.

McCain obviously likes the "fine old tradition" of being lobbied!

[edit on 8/14/2008 by Keyhole]

There no argument from me. The problem is I am very suspicious of ANY who claim to be free of 'special interest' influence. The media seems to pick and choose when and what we learn about these celebrity puppets we call politicians.

Frankly, I wish they would all move to some tropical paradise and leave us to fix all the problems they started. But it seems the political parties are the rulers, and we are never to see the truth, nor will they acknowledge it. Money is more important than blood to them. And they seem to respond and practice their craft as if that is the way its SUPPOSED to be.