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May 16, 2008
Richard Davis
John McCain 2008
P.O. Box 16118
Arlington, VA 22215
Dear Mr. Davis,
I read with interest the news reports of your campaign’s decision to vet all the past associations, work, and conflicts of interest of your staff. As you may know, Campaign Money Watch has been increasingly concerned about the number of lobbyists working on and raising money for Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid, the conflicts of interest they pose, and his retreat from supporting comprehensive reform that cuts the direct ties between special interests and candidates.
With 115 lobbyists raising money for or staffing your campaign, we believe that last weekend’s revelations that two staff members of the campaign promoted the military junta in Myanmar are just the tip of the iceberg. As you may be aware, Campaign Money Watch has called on three additional members of the McCain team to resign for similar representation of regimes with human rights abuses and brutal treatment of their citizens.
If you are interested in cleaning house at the McCain campaign, we urge you to start with Charlie Black, Tom Loeffler, and Peter Madigan.
As you will soon find out when these three fill out their forms, they have represented unconscionable foreign interests. Mr. Black and his firm have lobbied for Philippines’s President Ferdinand Marcos, strongman Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire, Mohamed Siad Barre of Somali, “rebel terrorist” Jonas Savimbi of Angola, and several other unsavory foreign clients. Mr. Loeffler and his firm have made approximately $11 million in their contracts representing the Saudi Arabian government. Mr. Madigan represented the government of the United Arab Emirates in a class action suit regarding the enslavement of children as camel jockeys.
You can read more about their past clients and their lobbying work at http://www.firethelobbyists.com.
Clearly these types of lobbying clientele reflect poorly on Sen. McCain and his campaign.
Your vetting process will turn up many more conflicts of interest. For example, there have been widely reported connections between several lobbyists who serve as fundraisers and staff for your campaign and Airbus’s U.S. affiliate when they secured a $35 billion Air Force contract. Sen. McCain has received more in campaign donations from executives of this Airbus affiliate, EADS, than any other candidate. In addition, your own lobbying and public relations work, and that of your firm, has raised serious questions about conflicts of interest.
We remain concerned about Sen. McCain’s retreat from his previous support for public financing legislation at the national level. That he has built a campaign relying on lobbyists to staff it and raise money for it is a clear signal to us that reforming business-as-usual politics and the pay-to-play culture in Washington is a very low priority for the Senator if he is elected. We hope this will change.
We are encouraged that you have begun to correct this appearance with a thorough review of all those staffing for Sen. McCain’s campaign. As an immediate step, you ought to immediately remove Messrs. Black, Loeffler, and Madigan, and extend your review to those you are depending upon to raise money for the campaign.
Sincerely,
David Donnelly, Director
Campaign Money Watch