McCain and the Keating Five

By: Lowell
Published On: 8/22/2008 8:11:12 AM

Time to take a trip on the wayback machine..to 1989. Here's William Black, then deputy director of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp:

Sen. McCain was unique among the five Senators in having a direct financial conflict of interest involving direct investment...On judgment, ethics, and truthfulness he failed this test as badly as you can fail.

Also, see here:

It all started in March 1987. Charles H Keating Jr., the flamboyant developer and anti-porn crusader, needed help. The government was poised to seize Lincoln Savings and Loan, a freewheeling subsidiary of Keating's American Continental Corp.

As federal auditors examined Lincoln, Keating was not content to wait and hope for the best. He had spread a lot of money around Washington, and it was time to call in his chits.

One of his first stops was Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz.

[...]

...Eventually, DeConcini would set up a meeting with five senators and the regulators. One of them was McCain.

McCain already knew Keating well. His ties to the home builder dated to 1981, when the two men met at a Navy League dinner where McCain spoke.

After the speech, Keating walked up to McCain and told him that he, too, was a Navy flier and that he greatly respected McCain's war record. He met McCain's wife and family. The two men became friends.

[...]

By 1987, McCain had received about $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and his associates.

Touching, huh, especially coming from John McCain, supposed crusader against lobbyists and money in politics.  So much for that!


Comments



that's 100k (Josh - 8/22/2008 11:19:38 AM)
when $100k was acutally worth something.