McCain says never favored a lobbyist (not one favor)

[underpants]

Source: AP/Yahoo

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain, rising in the polls as a Republican presidential candidate, defended his integrity Thursday, declaring he had "never done any favors for anybody — lobbyist or special interest group."

McCain made the remark to reporters in Detroit when questioned about a report that The New York Times was investigating allegations of legislative favoritism by the Arizona Republican.

"I have not been in talks with The New York Times. They've been communicating with our staff and with us," McCain said. "I've never done any favors for anybody — lobbyist or special interest group — that's a clear, 24-year record."

McCain and four other senators were accused two decades ago of trying to influence banking regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, a savings and loan financier later convicted of securities fraud. The Senate Ethics Committee said McCain had used "poor judgment" but also said his actions "were not improper" and warranted no penalty.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071220/ap_po/mccain_lobbyists

[TwilightGardener]

1. Poor judgment in Keating Five? That smells like "favors" to me.

Looks like McCainiac is going down.

[Xipe Totec]

2. Let's refresh the Senator's memory...

The Keating Five (or Keating Five Scandal) refers to a Congressional scandal related to the collapse of most of the Savings and Loan institutions in the United States in the late 1980s.

Following the deregulation of the banking industry in the 1980s, savings and loan associations (also known as thrifts) were given the flexibility to invest their depositors' funds in commercial real estate. (Previously, they had been restricted to investing in residential real estate.) Many savings and loan associations began making risky investments. As a result, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the federal agency that regulates the industry, tried to clamp down on the trend. In so doing, however, the FHLBB clashed with the Reagan administration, whose policy was deregulation of many industries, including the thrift industry. The administration declined to submit budgets to Congress that would request more funding for the FHLBB's regulatory efforts.

In 1989, the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, Calif., collapsed. Lincoln's chairman, Charles H. Keating Jr., was faulted for the thrift's failure. Keating, however, told the House Banking Committee that the FHLBB and its former chief Edwin J. Gray were pursuing a vendetta against him. Gray testified that several U.S. senators had approached him and requested that he ease off on the Lincoln investigation. It came out that these senators had been beneficiaries of $1.3 million (collective total) in campaign contributions from Keating.

This allegation set off a series of investigations by the California government, the United States Department of Justice, and the Senate Ethics Committee. The ethics committee's investigation focused on five senators: Alan Cranston (D-CA); Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ); John Glenn (D-OH); John McCain (R-AZ); and Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (D-MI), who became known as the Keating Five.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five

[Virginia Dare]

3. 24 years on the Hill and NO FAVORS?

NONE? Not even a lousy cup of coffee? Cut the choir boy act Johnny, nobody's buying it.