John McCain the Presidential Candidate is a very different person from John McCain the Senator. Though it’s not clear that McCain is doing anything illegal, his behavior with regards to funding is campaign finance is certainly outside the spirit of the legislation he authored with Russ Feingold to limit the influence of soft money in politics. As Ken Mehlman would say, “Flip-flop!”
From today’s Washington Post:
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 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.
McCain is hitting big Bush donors. He’s refusing to set himself as a model for public financed campaigns, though no official announcement has come on that matter.
Frankly, I don’t see this flip-flop influencing too many Republican primary voters.
Technorati Tags: campaign finance, John McCain
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E grande io ha trovato il vostro luogo! Le info importanti ottenute! ))
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[...] * Wouldn’t you know it, John McCain is a hypocrite when it comes to his signature issue of campaign finance reform. He has taken money from people who bankroll the very independent expenditure groups he claimed were evil, from lobbyists with business before the Commerce Committee–on which he sits–and he will likely opt out of public matching funds for the presidential race. So he can spend as much money as it takes. But then again, what would we expect from someone who was knee-deep in The Keating Five affair? [...]
Left by Politics: 2008 HQ » Blog Archive » Cliff Schecter: The Weekly Worst Of McCain
February 13, 2007 at 4:28pm