McCain's Finance Co-Chair Resigns in Ongoing Lobbyist Purge(fifth to resign)

[Ichingcarpenter]

Source: Washington Post,

By Michael D. Shear
Tom Loeffler, the national finance co-chair for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, resigned from the campaign today because of his lobbying ties, a campaign adviser said.

His is the fifth person to sever ties with the campaign amid a growing concern about whether lobbyists have too great an influence over McCain and the campaign. Last week, campaign manager Rick Davis issued a new policy that requires all campaign personnel to either resign or sever ties with lobbying firms or outside political groups.

"The campaign over the last week or so obviously had a perception problem with regards with this whole business of lobbyists and their work," said spokesman Brian Rogers. "This is really all about setting a policy so that we can just get through that perception problem and the issues that come up with regards to lobbyists affiliated with the campaign and move on.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/18/mccains_finance_cochair_resign.html

Read more: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/18/mccains_finance_cochair_resign.html

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I'm having a hard time keeping up with the body count.

[dubeskin]

1. Bush and McCain are completely different.

Bush's cronies didn't start to resign until halfway through his second term. If McCain can't keep his peeps around until the general election, how could we trust him to keep the economy in control!?

[Frustratedlady]

2. They probably can't find a Repug to hire that hasn't been involved with lobbying

That's the dream job, isn't it?

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. `These guys are available

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. Obama weighed in today on Sen. John McCain losing a fifth member

Obama weighed in today on Sen. John McCain losing a fifth member of his campaign team over the lobbying ties and other interests.

"It appears that John McCain is very much a creature of Washington and one of the things that we've said from the outset of this campaign is that if we're gonna change policies, if we're gonna deliver on universal healthcare or have an energy policy that over the long term can bring down gas prices that we were gonna have to change how Washington works," Obama told reporters Sunday at an ice cream shop in Milwaukie, Ore. "We can't have special interests dictating what's happening there and that's why I said at the beginning I wouldn't take PAC money and I wouldn't take money from federal lobbyists. And it does appear that over the last several weeks John McCain keeps on having problems with his top advisors being lobbyists, in some cases for foreign governments or other big interests that are doing business in Washington that I don't think represents the kind of change that the American people are looking for."

[Frustratedlady]

5. That was just announced this morning, wasn't it?

Obama jumps right on these issues before they are cooled off. He is amazing.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. And with McCain opening his mouth and his staffers leaving

its gonna get even better... The Obama campaign was on this news
as it broke and within a half hour Obama had a statement.

[annabanana]

7. I keep waiting for Charlie Black to pack it in... He's the biggest

baddest lobbyist on McCain's payroll.. (actually, I'm pretty sure it's the other way around)

[underpants]

8. That ain't a "perception" problem

Until recently, his top political adviser, Charlie Black, was the head of a Washington lobbying firm. Black retired from the firm to stay with the campaign. Davis ran a lobbying firm for several years but has said he is on leave from that firm.

The pressure on McCain intensified in the last week amid concerns about people connected to the campaign lobbying the military government in Burma.

Regional campaign manager Doug Davenport and Republican convention chief Doug Goodyear departed after acknowledging having represented Burma. Eric Burgeson, who lobbies the federal government on energy issues, left Thursday. GOP consultant Craig Shirley parted ways with the campaign because of his ties to stophernow.com, an attack site created to target Sen. Hillary Clinton that is now aimed at Sen. Barack Obama.


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Loeffler, a former Texas member of Congress, is a close, personal friend of McCain's and took over the fundraising last summer, when McCain's campaign was falling apart. But Loeffler's lobbying of Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments were revealed over the weekend.

Newsweek reported that Loeffler's firm, The Loeffler Group, had collected $15 million from Saudi Arabia and millions more from other foreign governments. Loeffler is listed as chairman and senior partner at the firm.

The new policy issued by Davis states that "No person working for the Campaign may be a registered lobbyist or foreign agent, or receive compensation for any such activity."

[argyl]

9. Loeffler is one dumb MFer. He put shower caps on his feet once when in San Francisco.

He was scared of getting AIDS. This was a number of years back but even then it was known that AIDS is not easily transmitted.

Also bragged during a Congressional campaign that he was so tough that he once played a football game with two broken wrists.

The late,great (RIP,Molly) Molly Ivins had to comment that that was more a sign of stupidity than toughness. The Loeffler camp had no reply.