Those Pesky Hundreds Of Lobbyists

John W. McCain thought his little lobbyist problem was over when he solemnly announced new standards of conduct for his staff, asked for and received the resignations of a few employees, and jutted out his jaw so that everyone in his media base could see how forthright and scrupulous he was. Surely his barbecue buddies would decide that this was no longer an issue, and any further talk of lobbyists would be off-limits from this point forward.

Except it's not going away. For as I said at the time, for McCain to truly wash his hands of lobbyists he'd have to fire his entire campaign staff, not a few aides on the margins. If he didn't, the ties would remain, like his employment of 7 lobbyists for Airbus, which looks bad in the light of his intervening to get Airbus a lucrative Pentagon contract. One of them, Susan Nelson, is McCain's national finance director, and apparently a lobbying shop was still paying her while she was affiliated with the campaign.

Then there's his chief economic advisor Carly Fiorina, who while the CEO of Hewlett-Packard traded with Iran in violation of an international boycott.

Then there's the big one involving Rick Davis, his campaign manager:

John McCain's presidential campaign is blasting a New York Times report that his campaign manager once worked for a Kremlin-backed politician, and that McCain likely knew of his efforts.

The McCain campaign is strongly denying the paper's reporting that in 2005, a White House National Security Council staffer called John McCain's Senate office to complain that Rick Davis, at the time a GOP lobbyist, was "undercutting American policy on Ukraine" by lobbying for a Kremlin-backed politician, Viktor Yanukovich, the paper reported.

The Bush White House -- and McCain  opposed Yanukovich, whom the United States and others had accused of election fraud, and benefiting from violence and intimidation towards journalists [...]

The story also raises the possibility that Davis may have violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a 1938 anti-espionage law requiring all agents of foreign powers to register with the U.S. government and disclose their activities. Davis never filed -- though according to the campaign, of course, he had no reason to do so.

The Times report is a doozy, alleging that Davis worked for Yanukovich without registering as a lobbyist, and that McCain knew about this since 2005. This is leading some reform-minded Democrats to propose a law requiring fuller disclosure of lobbyists who argue for foreign clients. It's a great way to wedge McCain, and Sen. Obama has already signed on to close the loophole that keeps such activities in the dark.

Under current law, Washington lobbyists can hide their dealings with foreign businesses and governments. This bill will close that loophole and establish a new standard for disclosure.

Barack is taking this important stand against powerful interests, but he can't change Washington without our help.

Sign our petition to stand with Barack on Lobbying reform:

http://my.barackobama.com/lobbyistloophole1

While Barack Obama is working to change the culture in Washington, John McCain has turned a blind eye to the lobbyist loophole.

He has to -- his Senior staff includes lobbyists who have used the loophole to hide their foreign clients, and McCain's fundraising strategy relies on huge checks from Washington Lobbyists and special interest PACs.

Barack's campaign is different. He has never accepted contributions from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs, so Barack is only accountable to ordinary people like me and you.

I don't know about all that, but clearly McCain is accountable to a much higher power. Lobbyists have managed his policy on issues like FISA and more, and they're completely entangled in his camapign apparatus. He deserves to be slammed for this.