lily
02-11-2007, 10:40 PM
What's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah.........flip flop. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/10/AR2007021001510.html?referrer=email)
McCain Taps Cash He Sought To Limit
Onetime Reformer Calls on Big Donors
By John Solomon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 11, 2007; Page A01
Just about a year and a half ago, Sen. John McCain went to court to try to
curtail the influence of a group to which A. Jerrold Perenchio gave $9
million, saying it was trying to "evade and violate" new campaign laws with
voter ads ahead of the midterm elections.
As McCain launches his own presidential campaign, however, he is counting on
Perenchio, the founder of the Univision Spanish-language media empire, to
raise millions of dollars as co-chairman of the Arizona Republican's
national finance committee.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) advocated limits on "soft money" in
politics, but many in his presidential campaign are the fundraisers who put
together such donations. (By Johannes Simon -- Getty Images)
Big Givers
Many of the top fundraisers that have signed up for John McCain's
presidential campaign have deep ties to the "soft-money" donations to
political parties and 527 nonprofit political groups that McCain has fought
to end.
In his early efforts to secure the support of the Republican establishment
he has frequently bucked, McCain has embraced some of the same
political-money figures, forces and tactics he pilloried during a 15-year
crusade to reduce the influence of big donors, fundraisers and lobbyists in
elections. That includes enlisting the support of Washington lobbyists as
well as key players in the fundraising machine that helped President Bush
defeat McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries.
After enduring his own brush with scandal in the early 1990s, when he and
four Senate colleagues pressured regulators on behalf of Charles Keating,
chairman of a failed savings and loan association, while collecting
donations and favors from him, McCain became a leader in the effort to
eliminate "soft money" in elections -- large donations from corporations,
labor unions and wealthy individuals. In 2002, McCain joined forces with
Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) to finally push through legislation ending
soft money and placing strict limits on donations.
But now the contrast between McCain the presidential candidate and McCain
the reformer can be jarring. McCain's campaign says that he is still
studying whether to forgo the public financing and spending limits he has
long supported, but that he will not be handicapped by restrictions his
competitors will not face in 2008.
McCain the reformer worked unsuccessfully through Congress and the courts to
try to stop nonprofit political groups known as 527s from using unlimited
donations to run political ads and fund other activities aimed at
influencing voters in the run-up to elections. He reintroduced legislation
last week to end 527 donations, but there appears to be little appetite in
Congress to pass it.
McCain the candidate now expects Republicans to use the same big-money 527
groups in the 2008 elections to beat Democrats, if the groups remain legal.
"The senator believes that both parties should be subjected to an even
playing field. If Democratic organizations are allowed to take advantage of
527s, Republican organizations will, too," said Mark Salter, a senior McCain
adviser. The senator declined to be interviewed.
McCain the reformer relentlessly argued that six- and seven-figure "soft
money" checks that corporations, wealthy individuals and unions were giving
to political parties to influence elections were corrupting American
politics. "The voices of average Americans have been drowned out by the
deafening racket of campaign cash," he warned just a few years ago.
McCain the candidate has enlisted some of the same GOP fundraising giants
who created and flourished in the soft-money system, including Bush's
fundraising "Pioneers" and "Rangers," who earned their designations by
raising at least $100,000 or $200,000 for his campaigns.
At least six of McCain's first eight national finance co-chairmen have given
or raised large donations for political parties or 527 groups, campaign and
IRS records show. In all, the finance co-chairs have given at least $13.5
million in soft money and 527 donations since the 1998 election.
They include former Bush moneymen such as lobbyist Thomas G. Loeffler and
financier Donald Bren, whose personal and corporate donations total in the
hundreds of thousands of dollars each in recent elections.
In key states, McCain has enlisted the likes of New York financier Henry
Kravis, one of the GOP's largest donors over the past two decades, and Texas
energy executive Robert A. Mosbacher, the architect of the Republicans'
"Team 100" fundraising machine that helped make soft money a staple of
politics by raising $20 million in large donations to help Bush's father win
the presidency in 1988.
McCain Taps Cash He Sought To Limit
Onetime Reformer Calls on Big Donors
By John Solomon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 11, 2007; Page A01
Just about a year and a half ago, Sen. John McCain went to court to try to
curtail the influence of a group to which A. Jerrold Perenchio gave $9
million, saying it was trying to "evade and violate" new campaign laws with
voter ads ahead of the midterm elections.
As McCain launches his own presidential campaign, however, he is counting on
Perenchio, the founder of the Univision Spanish-language media empire, to
raise millions of dollars as co-chairman of the Arizona Republican's
national finance committee.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) advocated limits on "soft money" in
politics, but many in his presidential campaign are the fundraisers who put
together such donations. (By Johannes Simon -- Getty Images)
Big Givers
Many of the top fundraisers that have signed up for John McCain's
presidential campaign have deep ties to the "soft-money" donations to
political parties and 527 nonprofit political groups that McCain has fought
to end.
In his early efforts to secure the support of the Republican establishment
he has frequently bucked, McCain has embraced some of the same
political-money figures, forces and tactics he pilloried during a 15-year
crusade to reduce the influence of big donors, fundraisers and lobbyists in
elections. That includes enlisting the support of Washington lobbyists as
well as key players in the fundraising machine that helped President Bush
defeat McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries.
After enduring his own brush with scandal in the early 1990s, when he and
four Senate colleagues pressured regulators on behalf of Charles Keating,
chairman of a failed savings and loan association, while collecting
donations and favors from him, McCain became a leader in the effort to
eliminate "soft money" in elections -- large donations from corporations,
labor unions and wealthy individuals. In 2002, McCain joined forces with
Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) to finally push through legislation ending
soft money and placing strict limits on donations.
But now the contrast between McCain the presidential candidate and McCain
the reformer can be jarring. McCain's campaign says that he is still
studying whether to forgo the public financing and spending limits he has
long supported, but that he will not be handicapped by restrictions his
competitors will not face in 2008.
McCain the reformer worked unsuccessfully through Congress and the courts to
try to stop nonprofit political groups known as 527s from using unlimited
donations to run political ads and fund other activities aimed at
influencing voters in the run-up to elections. He reintroduced legislation
last week to end 527 donations, but there appears to be little appetite in
Congress to pass it.
McCain the candidate now expects Republicans to use the same big-money 527
groups in the 2008 elections to beat Democrats, if the groups remain legal.
"The senator believes that both parties should be subjected to an even
playing field. If Democratic organizations are allowed to take advantage of
527s, Republican organizations will, too," said Mark Salter, a senior McCain
adviser. The senator declined to be interviewed.
McCain the reformer relentlessly argued that six- and seven-figure "soft
money" checks that corporations, wealthy individuals and unions were giving
to political parties to influence elections were corrupting American
politics. "The voices of average Americans have been drowned out by the
deafening racket of campaign cash," he warned just a few years ago.
McCain the candidate has enlisted some of the same GOP fundraising giants
who created and flourished in the soft-money system, including Bush's
fundraising "Pioneers" and "Rangers," who earned their designations by
raising at least $100,000 or $200,000 for his campaigns.
At least six of McCain's first eight national finance co-chairmen have given
or raised large donations for political parties or 527 groups, campaign and
IRS records show. In all, the finance co-chairs have given at least $13.5
million in soft money and 527 donations since the 1998 election.
They include former Bush moneymen such as lobbyist Thomas G. Loeffler and
financier Donald Bren, whose personal and corporate donations total in the
hundreds of thousands of dollars each in recent elections.
In key states, McCain has enlisted the likes of New York financier Henry
Kravis, one of the GOP's largest donors over the past two decades, and Texas
energy executive Robert A. Mosbacher, the architect of the Republicans'
"Team 100" fundraising machine that helped make soft money a staple of
politics by raising $20 million in large donations to help Bush's father win
the presidency in 1988.