The rich and powerful are different than you and I -- they can request a free cell phone tower on their remote, nearly unpopulated land from Verizon and/or AT&T, and have that request fulfilled.
James Grimaldi of the Post (who also wrote an accurate summary of the report released about Sarah Palin's abuse of power as found by the Branchflower Report) writes a devastating expose on this example of another way in which the McCain's continue to dabble in government-for-the-highest-bidder ... and the Post naturally stashes it away on Page A6:
Early in 2007, just as her husband launched his presidential bid, Cindy McCain sought to resolve an old problem -- the lack of cellphone coverage on her remote 15-acre ranch near Sedona, Ariz., nestled deep in a tree-lined canyon called Hidden Valley.[...]
Ethics lawyers said Cindy McCain's dealings with the wireless companies stand out because her husband, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), is a senior member of the Senate commerce committee, which oversees the Federal Communications Commission and the telecommunications industry. He has been a leading advocate for industry-backed legislation, fighting regulations and taxes on telecommunication services.
McCain and his campaign have close ties to Verizon and AT&T. Five campaign officials, including manager Rick Davis, have worked as lobbyists for Verizon. Former McCain staff member Robert Fisher is an in-house lobbyist for Verizon and is volunteering for the campaign. Fisher, Verizon chief executive Ivan G. Seidenberg and company lobbyists have raised more than $1.3 million for McCain's presidential effort, and Verizon employees are among the top 20 corporate donors over McCain's political career, giving his campaigns more than $155,000.
McCain's Senate chief of staff Mark Buse, senior strategist Charles R. Black Jr. and several other campaign staff members have registered as AT&T lobbyists in the past. AT&T Executive Vice President Timothy McKone and AT&T lobbyists have raised more than $2.3 million for McCain. AT&T employees have donated more than $325,000 to the Republican's campaigns, putting the company in the No. 3 spot for career donations to McCain, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
"It raises the aura of special consideration for somebody because he is a member of the Senate," said Stanley Brand, a former House counsel for Democrats and an ethics lawyer who represents politicians in both parties.
It's quite obvious that John McCain has learned absolutely nothing from his participation in the Keating Five scandal -- in fact, he uses his complicity in that scandal as some kind of shield against the rest of his corrupt dealings, as if being guilty once somehow shields him from being guilty again.
My favorite part of the article is the response from the McCain camp:
McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said that the senator is not a regulator and that Cindy McCain received no favors from Verizon or AT&T."Mrs. McCain's staff went through the Web site as any member of the general public would -- no string-pulling, no phone calls, no involvement of Senate staff," Rogers said. "Just because she is married to a senator doesn't mean she forfeits her right to ask for cell service as any other Verizon customer can."
That's right! You and I can also request a free cell phone tower for our remote properties to ensure that we can use our blackberries (this is obviously a request for Cindy and the kids, as we know John doesn't know how to use a computer), and Verizon and AT&T will get back to us, post haste!
This scandal has all the hallmarks of the abuse of power scandals that we have come to know and abhor from both McCain and Sarah Palin. Later in the article, the ever-shifting explanation for why the free tower was provided includes reasoning that it was necessary for a man running for President to have coverage so that the Secret Service can properly do its job. Of course, this reason is completely bogus, and the spokesman for the Secret Service denies any such reasoning.
This is the type of politics that is destroying our country. "Public servants" using their positions of power to dole out favors and/or contracts to the favored corporations that shower them with gifts and preferential treatment and campaign contributions. It's no wonder the public good is so rarely on the collective mind of our political elite.
Remember this story the next time we have to hear the sanctimonious and lying-through-his-teeth McCain talk about how we fights the special interests and fights against earmarks and goodies and spending and all that ...
Somebody, please, run a caption contest on this photo ...
Earlier I commented that it looked like a cross between Larry Craig and the Frankenstein monster. Either that or some sort of a homosexual zombie who seeks ass instead of brains.
Link to AP photo at Telegraph.
Looks to me like a Dukakis-in-the-tank, Kerry-on-the-surfboard, Ford-stumbling-down-the-gangway, or Bush-throwing-up-on-the-Japanese-PM's-lap moment.
If every voter sees this photo, it is game, set, and match.
A few possible captions for starters:
Golum startled as "The Precious" slips through his fingers.
or
Renfield, suddenly defanged, grasps at straws.
or
Lurching: an illustrated how-to.