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John McCain lobbyist controversy

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See also: Criticism of The New York Times § McCain article criticism

On February 21, 2008, in the midst of John McCain's campaign in the 2008 Republican presidential primaries, both The New York Times and the Washington Post published articles detailing rumors of an improper relationship between John McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman.[1][2]

According to the New York Times story, McCain, who was a member of the Senate Commerce Committee during the period when Iseman was lobbying the committee, developed a close personal relationship with Iseman.[1] The New York Times came under intense criticism for the article because of its use of anonymous sources and its timing.

Alleged concerns about favoritism from McCain

McCain wrote letters in 1998 and 1999 to the Federal Communications Commission (the FCC) encouraging it to uphold marketing agreements allowing a television company to control two stations in the same city, a position which Iseman had been advocating on behalf of her client Glencairn Ltd. (now Cunningham Broadcasting).[1] McCain also introduced a bill to create tax incentives for minority ownership of stations, which several businesses Iseman represented were seeking.[1]

In February 1999, McCain and Iseman attended a small fund-raising dinner with several clients at a Miami-area home of a cruise-line executive, then flew back to Washington along with a campaign aide on the corporate jet of Paxson Communications (now ION Media Networks), one of her clients.[1] Later in 1999, Iseman requested McCain to write to the FCC urging it to reach a speedy decision in a case involving Paxson Communications. Iseman, according to an email sent to The Times, provided McCain's staff with the information to write the letter. McCain's two letters to the FCC resulted in William Kennard, the FCC chairman, issuing a rare public rebuke to McCain for his interference in FCC deliberations.[1]

McCain also frequently denied requests from Iseman and the companies she represented, including attempts in 2006 to break up cable packages, something opposed by companies she represented. His proposals for satellite distribution of local television stations also failed to match the desires of Iseman's clients.[1]

Iseman said she never received special treatment from McCain's office, and McCain said he never demonstrated favoritism to Iseman or her clients. During a phone call to Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, he said, "I have never betrayed the public trust by doing anything like that."[1]

Iseman's clients contributed tens of thousands of dollars to McCain's campaigns.[1]

Alleged concerns about romantic relationship with McCain

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According to the Times story, Iseman began visiting McCain's offices and campaign events so frequently in 2000 that his aides were worried the senator might be having a romantic relationship with her. One staff member asked, "Why is she always around?"[1] Staff aides also worried that McCain's relationship with Iseman would receive negative media attention due to the letters McCain wrote to government regulators on her behalf, especially since McCain's campaign stressed his probity and included proposals for more stringent regulation of lobbying in the United States.

Long-time McCain staffer John Weaver stated that this wasn't true. Daniel Schnur, McCain's 2000 communication director with no current connection to the campaign, said it was "highly implausible"; that he would have been made aware of any such concerns.[3]

McCain's aides allegedly intervene to "save McCain from himself"

It is alleged that in a campaign to "save McCain from himself", his aides began restricting Iseman's access to McCain during the course of the 2000 presidential primary. According to a story in the Washington Post published the same day as the New York Times story, Weaver met with Iseman at Union Station (Washington, D.C.) to tell Iseman not to see McCain anymore.[4] Weaver, who arranged the meeting after a discussion among campaign leaders, said Iseman and he discussed "her conduct and what she allegedly had told people, which made its way back to us."[1] Weaver heard that she was saying "she had strong ties to the Commerce Committee and his staff" and told her this was wrong and for it to stop.[5] No discussion of a romantic involvement occurred because, according to Weaver, "there was no reason to".[3] Iseman confirmed she met with Weaver, but disputed his account of the conversation.[1]

A campaign adviser was instructed to keep Iseman away from McCain at public events, and plans were made to limit her access to his offices. Campaign associates also confronted McCain directly about the risks he was taking with campaign and career. McCain allegedly admitted he was behaving inappropriately and promised to distance himself from Iseman. Concerns about the relationship eventually receded as the campaign continued.[1]

Response from McCain's campaign

On February 20, the night before the article appeared in the printed newspaper, but just after the story was available online, the McCain presidential campaign issued the following statement: "It is a shame that The New York Times has lowered its standards to engage in a hit-and-run smear campaign. John McCain has a 24-year record of serving our country with honor and integrity. He has never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists, and he will not allow a smear campaign to distract from the issues at stake in this election. Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics, and there is nothing in this story to suggest that John McCain has ever violated the principles that have guided his career.”[1] A McCain campaign adviser added that the report “reads like a tabloid gossip sheet”.[6]

McCain spoke in a press conference the following day saying, "I'm very disappointed in the article. It's not true." He stated he never showed favoritism for her clients: "At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust." He went on to characterize Iseman as a friend but no closer than other lobbyists. Both he and his wife strenuously denied any impropriety. He said he wasn't aware of the meeting Weaver had with Iseman nor of any concerns among his staff about his association.[2]

Ethics of publication questioned

The Times' decision to publish the article while relying almost entirely on anonymous sources has raised ethical questions relating to the story's veracity and importance.

George Stephanopolous, an ABC News correspondent, said that — while damaging — as long as the sources remain anonymous this story will not throw the campaign off course. He quoted McCain aides that they will go after The New York Times "with extreme aggression — if the newspaper was going to act like a partisan they were going to treat them as a partisan."[7] On the same day, fellow Senator Joe Lieberman, who has endorsed McCain for the presidency, said, "The story I think is outrageously unfair to him. There's no 'there' there."[8] U.S. News & World Report publisher Mort Zuckerman said, “I don’t think that there is enough acknowledged sourcing for this story."

Academics and legal journals offered both support and criticism of the story. The editor of the American Journalism Review said while the article wasn't entirely convincing it did put to question McCain's reputation as a reformer.[9] The editor of the Columbia Journalism Review said the circumstances outlined in the story were sufficient to justify its publication.[10] However, a dean at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism disagreed, saying, "[If] you haven't covered all your bases or been transparent about where you got the information . . . then the criticism takes over and the story loses its significance."[10] Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center faulted the paper for focusing on the purported affair.[10]

Several conservative voices, who had recently criticized McCain, came to his defense. Brent Bozell of the watchdog Media Research Center said, “The New York Times is giving the National Enquirer a bad name”. [6] He said the story was done hastily because it feared the embarrassment of an imminent New Republic article reporting on internal dissension about the story.[11][12] Talk show host Rush Limbaugh said, "This is what you get when you walk across the aisle and try to make these people your friends. I'm not surprised in the least that the NYT would try to take out John McCain."[13] Jay Ambrose, an opinion columnist for the Boston Herald, summarized their sentiment by writing, "One of the first rules of decent, principles-abiding journalism is that you don’t print rumors. That is nevertheless what The New York Times [NYT] just did in a smear job on John McCain...."[14] San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra Saunders chimed in with, "The paper set out to shine a spotlight on McCain's ethics, but it ended up turning a harsh light on its own ethical lapses."[15]

Some liberal commentators and critics of the Republican Party have also questioned the purpose of the story. Jonathan Alter of Newsweek said the article lacked physical evidence, noting, "[L]et‘s face it, people are more interested in sex than they are in telecommunications lobbying activity."[16] John Dean argued that, if false, the article is both unfair and damaging, suggesting that legal recourse was possible.[17] Journalist Hanna Rosin, writing in Slate, said the Times rushed the story to publication and left key questions unanswered, writing "Either write the cheating story or don't. As it is, it just looks like a lame story where they quote a bunch of anonymous old campaign sources but don't have any actual evidence of the affair themselves. And they make it much easier for McCain to just stomp on the story."[18]

In defense of the article, reporters for Politico wondered that if the story was about McCain's possible 2008 presidential opponent, Senator Barack Obama, whether conservatives may have been more curious about the details of the story which they felt had substance,[19] a sentiment echoed by The New Republic.[20] Times editor Bill Keller defended the story saying the facts were well vetted and the timing was a result of waiting until the story was ready.[10] Other Times editors defended the use of anonymous sources saying they knew their identities and that they provided thorough and consistent stories.[21] However, Clark Hoyt, the ombudsman for The New York Times, criticized the article for its lack of details and independent proof.[22]

Follow-up article

On February 23, The New York Times followed up their original article with an article on McCain's efforts to help a client of Iseman's before the FCC. According to the article, "In late 1998, Senator John McCain sent an unusually blunt letter to the head of the Federal Communications Commission, warning that he would try to overhaul the agency if it closed a broadcast ownership loophole."[23]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Jim Rutenberg, Marilyn W. Thompson, David D. Kirkpatrick, Stephen Labaton (February 21, 2008). "For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b Quaid, Libby (2008-02-21). "McCain Says Report Is "Not True"". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  3. ^ a b Bash, Dana (2008-02-22). "Ex-McCain aide: New York Times report 'highly implausible'". CNN. Retrieved 2008-02-22. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Michael D Shear (February 21, 2008). "McCain's Ties To Lobbyist Worried Aides". Washington Post. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Cillizza, Chris (2008-02-21). "John Weaver Speaks". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  6. ^ a b "Fit to Print? New York Times in Crosshairs for Report on McCain and Female Lobbyist". Fox News. 2008-02-21. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  7. ^ Stephanopolous, George (2008-02-21). "McCain Charges: Scandal or Smear". ABC News. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  8. ^ Singer, Stephen (2008-02-18). "Lieberman defends McCain from suggestion of improper relationship". Associated press. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  9. ^ Rieder, Rem (2008). "The Senator and the Lobbyist". American Journalism Review. Retrieved 2008-02-24. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  10. ^ a b c d Rainey, James (2008-02-22). "McCain story proves incendiary among journalists, conservatives". Los Angeles Times. pp. page 2. Retrieved 2008-02-24. {{cite web}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  11. ^ Kessler, Glen (2008-02-21). "McCain Camp Takes On the New York Times". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  12. ^ Sherman, Gabriel (2008-02-21). "The Long Run-Up". The New Republic. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  13. ^ Szep, Jason (2008-02-21). "McCain could gain from report on lobbyist link". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  14. ^ Ambrose, Jay (2008-02-22). "All the rumors unfit to print". Boston Herald. Retrieved 2008-02-22. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ Saunders, Debra (2008-02-22). "New York Times sullies itself with McCain story". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-02-22. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ Alter, Jonathan (2008-02-20). "'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for Feb. 20". MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  17. ^ Dean, John (2008-02-22). "The New York Times Story Linking John McCain with Lobbyist Vicki Iseman: Should It Have Been Published?". FindLaw. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  18. ^ Rosin, Hanna (2008-02-20). "It's About Vicki, Stupid". Slate. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  19. ^ Allen, Mike (2008-02-24). "Why the right reluctantly defended McCain". Politico. Retrieved 2008-02-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ Sheiber, Norm (2008-02-24). "Why Are Conservatives So Delusional About the McCain Story?". The New Republic. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  21. ^ Abramson, Jill (2008-02-21). "The McCain Article". The New York Times. pp. page 2. Retrieved 2008-02-25. {{cite web}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ Hoyt, Clark (2008-02-24). "What That McCain Article Didn't Say". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  23. ^ Files and McCain Letter Show Effort to Keep Loophole By STEPHEN LABATON February 23, 2008 New York Times
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