The fun-filled life of a happy beer peddler: a look at John McCain's outlaw in-laws:

[Fridays Child]

Anyone interested in Googling Jim Hensley and his ties to the mob and to the Don Bolles murder will find plenty of information out there. No amount of time can ever scrub clean Hensley or the dirty, dirty money he left to his self-described "only child," Cindy McCain.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to John Dougherty, staff reporter for The Phoenix New Times. You write in your pieces about how sometimes John McCain would recuse himself because of the relationship, because of his family’s fortune coming from the alcohol industry; but it was that very act of actually not taking action sometimes. First there was recusal, then it was just not taking action that perhaps served the liquor industry more than—better than they could have hoped?

JOHN DOUGHERTY:I think he clearly was keeping the liquor industry’s best interests in mind. He did it in a very skillful way and it was a—You know, in his whole career it’s fairly minor aspect of it; but it was something that we think people need to know and people should be discussing. It reflects on this guy’s ability to move in and out of issues quickly, and he’s kind of a teflon-type guy.

AMY GOODMAN: The rise of his wife’s family in the alcohol industry, you also chronicle that, in-depth.

JOHN DOUGHERTY:The rise of his—that’s like a history of Arizona dirty politics. The Hensley family was involved with some of the most notorious—at least on the sides—some of the most notorious crimes committed in the state of Arizona, primarily the bombing and murder of Arizona Republic reporter, Don Bolles, and it’s on the edge, but it’s there. The key guy in the Hensley empire was a guy named Kemper Marley. Kemper Marley was a liquor magnate. He controlled a lot of the land in central Arizona. Marley was implicated-–—never charged—in the murder of Bolles, and it was Marley who basically gave the liquor franchise to Hensley back in the 1950’s, and that built their empire from there.

AMY GOODMAN: Why would he want Bolles killed?

JOHN DOUGHERTY:They wanted Bolles killed supposedly because Bolles was writing a series of stories that were very critical of Kemper Marley, and Kemper Marley wanted to get a key position on the racing commission in the state of Arizona. This was back in 1976.

http://www.democracynow.org/2004/9/28/who_is_john_mccain_an_in

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