Keating -- The Gift That Keeps On Giving

truble2301 · #1 (**permalink**) 11-02-2008, 04:50 PM

Quote:

One day in early March 1986, John McCain, an Arizona congressman, sat down to write a letter. McCain had heard that a long-time friend and donor, Charles Keating, was upset for being listed as a member of McCain's campaign finance committee when a more prominent position would seem more appropriate. So McCain apologized. Needlessly it turned out, for "Charlie," as he signed his letter, would reply a few days later: "John, don't be silly. You can call me anything...I'm yours until death do us part."

Three years later, McCain and four other senators would be called to the carpet for this loyalty, which was accompanied by a total of $1.3 million in contributions from Keating. Senators Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, John Glenn, John McCain, and Donald Riegle were being investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee for helping Keating's company, Lincoln Savings and Loan, resist regulators. That lack of regulation precipitated Lincoln's collapse that year--part of the larger savings-and-loan collapse--at a cost of about $3 billion to the federal government.

This episode has been invoked in the current campaign first as a parable against Reagan-era financial deregulation, which McCain supported and which was a significant factor in the collapse of savings and loans institutions; and second, as a reminder that McCain himself was rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for "poor judgment" after a 14-month investigation.

Yet the Ethics Committee's was not the only investigation into the scandal. There were two other probes at the time that got barely any public attention--both of which largely focused on McCain himself. These were probes into illicit leaks about the proceedings of the Ethics Committee--leaks that repeatedly benefited McCain and hurt his Keating Five colleagues. One of those senators described the leaks at the time as a "violation of ethical behavior at least as serious as anything of which we senators have been accused."

The leaks, if they were coming from a senator, were also illegal. All five senators--including McCain--had testified under oath and under the U.S. penal code that the leaks did not come from their camps. The leaks were also prohibited by rules of the Senate Ethics Committee; according to the rules of the Senate, anyone caught leaking such information could face expulsion from the body. These, then, were not the usual Washington disclosures: Discovered, they could have stopped the career of any Washington politician in his tracks.

The two investigations into the leaks suggested McCain's involvement but were officially inconclusive. New evidence, obtained in recent weeks, again points back to the McCain camp. The investigator of those leaks now says that he does not doubt that they came from McCain or his team. A reporter who possessed evidence in the Keating case now says he believes that McCain was the source and got away with it. Finally, a senator who has emerged as a key backer of McCain's presidential campaign turns out to have authored a letter stating flatly that McCain was the source of the damning leaks. Put together, a large record of evidence now points in the direction of Senator McCain. Far from McCain's reputation of putting "country first," these leaks depict a formidable politician willing to go through great lengths to maintain his standing. More than McCain's relationship with Keating, it is the story of the Keating investigation leaks that voters should know.

The Rest of The Story

kvmj · #2 (**permalink**) 11-02-2008, 05:18 PM

How honorable-not.

hambirg · #3 (**permalink**) 11-03-2008, 03:49 AM

Thanks for the link. It led me to a story on Rahm Emanuel, who Obama plans on naming his chief of Staff should he be elected. He sounds like a great guy. . .

Emanuel is noted for his strong partisan style and his fundraising prowess. . .His father, the Jerusalem-born Benjamin M. Emanuel, is a pediatrician and was a member of the Irgun, a Zionist Militant organization in the 1940s. . . .he was known for his intensity. Notably, he reportedly told British Prime Minister Tony Blair, "This is important. Don't **** it up," prior to Blair appearing in public with Clinton for the first time after the Lewinsky scandal emerged. Emanuel is said to have "mailed a rotting fish to a former coworker after the two parted ways." On the night after the Clinton election, "Emanuel was so angry at the president's enemies that he stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign, grabbed a steak knife and began rattling off a list of betrayers, shouting 'Dead! ... Dead! ... Dead!' and plunging the knife into the table after every name."His "take-no-prisoners attitude" earned him the nickname "Rahm-bo".

In 1998, Emanuel served on the Chicago Housing Association board and was repeatedly accused of undermining fair and affordable housing for low-income minorities. Opponents cite incidents during which Emanuel left concerned citizens meetings in which Section 8 housing destruction was authorized to talk on his cell phone or take early lunches. . . .

He declared in April 2006 that he would support Hillary Rodham Clinton should she pursue the presidency in 2008. However, Emanuel's loyalties came into conflict when his home-state senator Barack Obama expressed interest in the race; asked in January 2007 about his stance on the Democratic presidential nomination, he said: "I'm hiding under the desk. I'm very far under the desk, and I'm bringing my paper and my phone". . . .

During his original 2002 campaign, Emanuel "indicated his support of President Bush's position on Iraq. . .

Speculation has been raised regarding the connection of Emanuel's Congressional election success to convicted former Chicago water department boss Don Tomczak.

The newspaper USA Today reported in late January 2007 that Emanuel failed to disclose that he was an officer of a family charity , a violation of law requiring members of Congress to report non-profit leadership roles.

Sounds like a real peach. . .a huge change from Chicago politics as normal.

kvmj · #4 (**permalink**) 11-03-2008, 09:15 AM

Why bring up Emmanuel when this thread is about John Mccain and his involvement in the Keating scandal?

truble2301 · #5 (**permalink**) 11-03-2008, 03:25 PM

Because when we bring it back to McCain, then she can accuse us of diversion.

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