John McCain’s All-Lobbyist Express
The past few weeks has brought repeated announcements from the campaign of pseudo-maverick John McCain regarding the dismissal of staff members due to their lobbying activities. It’s not enough that McCain raises more money with the help of lobbyists than any other presidential candidate…
Nope, McCain also employs so many lobbyists that there seems to be a new one falling from the campaign tree every week. Amongst those having taken their leave so far are Doug Goodyear, Doug Davenport, Eric Burgeson, and Craig Shirley. The latest casualty is the campaign’s national finance co-chairman, Thomas Loeffler. Hanging low on the branch are super-lobbyists Charlie Black and campaign manager Rick Davis. Media Matters has compiled a superb list of even more tainted McCain staffers.
And speaking of McCain staffers with ties to lobbying, the announcement of Loeffler’s departure was made by Tucker Bounds, McCain’s deputy communications director. Bounds recently left his position with the American Insurance Association to join McCain’s campaign. The AIA is the “leading property-casualty insurance trade organization, representing 350 insurers that write more than $123 billion in premiums each year.”
This relationship raises an interesting question: Since Bounds, the McCain spokesperson, is himself bound to a major lobbying group, will he be called upon to announce his own dismissal?