In his first post at MyDD, our friend Josh Orton examines the latest campaign finance shenanigans from John McCain. Based on an article in today's NY Times about McCain's use of his wife's private corporate jet, Josh finds that McCain breaks two campaign pledges in one fell swoop. Nice work for the so-called champion of campaign finance reform:
Not only is [McCain] exploiting a loophole to save millions, he's actually going back on an earlier pledge. In early 2007, McCain's campaign swore off the practice of using corporate jets:
When McCain first ran for president in 2000, he defrayed some travel costs by flying on corporate jets. Under Federal Election Commission rules at the time, candidates could bill their campaign accounts the cost of a first-class ticket for a corporate flight.
But now, his campaign has said, McCain is abiding by a pledge to stay off corporate jets. In the past year, that has meant spending more than $1.1 million on charter flights, according to filings by his leadership committee.
Now McCain could claim that the problem is mitigated here because the corporation is his wife's, and technically the letter of the law was followed. I don't buy that, since one of the underlying principles of campaign finance regulation is to gain back the public's trust and reduce even the "appearance of corruption."
But even then, McCain is still going back on his word, since, as the Times story notes:
Last summer, just before starting to use his wife's plane, Mr. McCain was quoted in a newspaper report as saying that he did not plan to tap her substantial wealth to keep his bid for the Republican presidential nomination going.
"I have never thought about it," Mr. McCain was quoted by The Arizona Republic as saying at a July appearance. "I would never do such a thing, so I wouldn't know what the legalities are."
Not only did he think about it, he did it.
When McCain released his tax returns -- but not his wife's tax returns, the McCain campaign made this statement:
Note About Mrs. McCain's Financial Information:
Since the beginning of their marriage, Senator McCain and Mrs. McCain have always maintained separate finances.
That's a lie for many reasons, but tetting Senator McCain use Cindy's corporate jet isn't exactly keeping finances separate.
Josh Orton asks the right question that every one in the media should be asking (and would ask if they weren't all afraid of McCain):
Can Mrs. McCain please release her full tax returns now?
