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Jewish World Review Feb. 26, 2008 / 20 Adar I 5768 McCain's missing thank you card By Ed Koch
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
A February 21st New York Times article examined the
relationship between Senator John McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman.
The article created a firestorm by asserting, "Convinced the
relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to
protect the candidate from himself."
The Times quoting John Weaver, a friend and adviser to
McCain reported, "He [Weaver] had "warned Ms. Iseman away [in 1999]
because of 'what she had told people' that had 'made its way back' to
the McCain campaign." According to the Daily News, McCain, when 'asked
directly if he ever had a romantic relationship with Iseman, replied,
'No.' He added that if aides were concerned about the possibility of
such a relationship, as the [Times] article said, "They didn't
communicate it to me."
According to a February 23rd article in The Times, Ms.
Iseman was lobbying for clients seeking to retain a loophole in an
existing law that "enabled one of the nation's largest broadcasting
companies, Sinclair, to use a marketing agreement with Glencarin...to
get around a restriction barring single ownership of two television
stations in the same city."
Reaction by McCain to The Times report on Vicki Iseman was
swift. According to The Times, "at a news conference on Thursday [the
day of The Times' first article], Mr. McCain "said he never had any
discussions with his advisers about Ms. Iseman and never did any favors
for any lobbyist." Later, he amended his statement, admitting that he
had sent letters to the FCC on behalf of one of Ms. Iseman's clients at
the request of Lowell Paxson, not at her request.
That letter, according to The Times, "contained a suggestion
that a failure [of the agency] to act [on the application before it]
would result in the possible overhaul of the agency." The language of
the letter itself should be published, instead of our having to rely on
the reporter's characterization "it contained a suggestion..." At the
time, McCain was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and his
position on the applicability of the loophole was favorable to both the
Glencarin company and Paxson. The follow-up story by Stephen Labaton in
The Times of February 23rd, appears to me to be flawless in recounting
the Senator's actions on behalf of these two clients of Ms. Iseman.
Concerning one of the clients, the Paxson Company, the Senator said he
had not discussed the matter with Ms. Iseman, but admits that he did
discuss the company's problem with its president, Lowell Paxson, and had
sent letters on behalf of the company's application to the FCC "after
meeting with Mr. Paxson." Labaton writes, "The letters Mr. McCain wrote
to the Commission in the Paxson matter were sent in late 1999 and
prompted the agency's [FCC] chairman to chastise him for interfering in
a licensing matter. The incident embarrassed Mr. McCain then making his
first presidential run because Mr. Paxson was a campaign contributor and
fund raiser."
As for Ms. Iseman's other client, the Glencarin company, the
Labaton article reported, "On Glencarin, the [McCain] campaign said Mr.
McCain's efforts to retain the loophole were not done at Ms. Iseman's
request. It said Mr. McCain was merely directing the Commission to 'not
act in a manner' contradictory to congressional intent. Mr. McCain
wrote in the letters that a 1996 law, the telecommunication act,
required the loophole; a legal opinion by the staff of the commission
took the opposite view."
The Times reports, "Ultimately, the FCC loosened the rules
to permit a company to own two television stations in some markets."
The effect of the Times articles has been to strengthen
McCain's position with conservative radio commentators like Rush
Limbaugh and the right-wing blogs who rushed to McCain's defense
welcoming McCain home and conveying, in effect, 'we told you to stay
away from consorting and working with those liberals.' Had the Times
not introduced the element of sex as a possibility in the McCain-Iseman
relationship, it would have been on safe ground. The Times' own public
editor (ombudsman), Clark Hoyt, on February 24th, evaluating The Times'
original story, concluded, "And if a newspaper is going to suggest an
improper sexual affair, whether editors think that is the central point
or not, it owes readers more proof than the Times was able to provide."
The vast majority of Times' readers, I believe, doesn't care
if McCain slept with a lobbyist or was otherwise romantically involved
with her. They do care if a public official provided unwarranted or
inappropriate assistance to the lobbyist's clients, which on its face,
as described in Labaton's second article, he did. Regrettably, the
second Labaton article did not undo the damage caused by the sexual
innuendo.
Congressmen and Senators are often asked by constituents to
pursue a constituent's claims with a regulatory agency. They do, and
generally appropriately so. One of the first rules that I learned and
applied during my nine years as a Congressman between 1969-77, was
always to write in any letter sent on behalf of a constituent that the
agency should respond "subject to your regular rules and procedures."
Agencies normally would and should do that anyway. I don't know how
they would respond to a letter from the chairman of a committee having
jurisdiction over them, particularly over their budget. I suspect that
the response and attention given might depend on the seniority and
perceived power of the sender, as well as the morality and strength of
spine of the chairman of the regulatory agency.
I'm for Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election. The
bottom line is, having used an unsupported sex allegation, The New York
Times handed McCain a gift.
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JWR contributor Edward I. Koch, the former mayor of New York, can be heard on Bloomberg Radio (WBBR 1130 AM) every Sunday from 9-10 am . Comment by clicking here.
© 2008, Ed Koch |
Mitch Albom | |||||||||||
