Reformer
Two High-Ranking McCain Campaign Officials Lobbied For Companies At Center of Sex-For-Oil Scandal
By Greg Sargent and Eric Kleefeld - September 12, 2008, 4:47PM
Here's something that could complicate the McCain-Palin reform message a bit: It turns out that McCain's national finance co-chair,
Wayne Berman, is a paid lobbyist, and has been one for years, for two of the oil companies that are at the center of the sex, drugs and oil scandal enveloping the Interior Department.
One of McCain's high-ranking campaign officials also lobbied for the companies for years -- during time periods when the scandal has unfolded -- up until he joined the McCain campaign in the spring.
The lobbyists themselves aren't tied to the scandal in any way, and their activity on the companies' behalf doesn't implicate McCain, either. But
it's legit to ask why it is that a campaign that proclaims that it's about reform is taking advice and/or money from lobbyists who were getting paid by companies involved in the scandal, one of whom is still collecting money from them............................
"You have to wonder why Berman and Green would continue to lobby for oil companies that conduct business with the government in this sordid and sleazy manner," says David Donnelly of the nonpartisan Campaign Money Watch. "Relying on lobbyists like these certainly puts a little more tarnish on McCain's so-called reformer image."
The McCain campaign didn't respond to a request for comment.
more at:
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/mccain_cleaning_up_lobbying_hi.php