Subject: [big campaign] Re: Watchdog Group to McCain: Fire the Lobbyists
From: David Donnelly <[email-masked]>
To: big campaign <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 14:15:18 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

All,

We just launched www.firethelobbyists.com keying off the press release
below.

DD

On 5/12/08 11:41 AM, "David Donnelly" <[email-masked]> wrote:

> Press Release from Campaign Money Watch
> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   CONTACT
> Monday, May 12, 2008        David Miller, Communications Manager, (202)
> 448-6154
> 
> Reform Watchdog Group To McCain: Fire The Lobbyists
> National campaign finance reform group calls on McCain to fire Charlie Black,
> Tom Loeffler and Peter Madigan, three top lobbyists connected to human rights
> abusers 
> 
> Washington, DC  Campaign Money Watch called on Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
> today to fire three Washington lobbyists working on his campaign team whose
> lobbying clients include brutal foreign interests and big oil companies. The
> demand comes after a weekend that saw key figures in McCain¹s campaign resign
> for lobbying for Myanmar¹s military junta.
> 
> The two McCain lobbyists who resigned were just two of at least 10 top McCain
> aides or fundraisers who have lobbied for foreign governments, including at
> least 6 regimes or rulers with a history of human rights abuses, and at least
> one rebel leader with a history of human rights abuses.
> 
> ³John McCain¹s campaign is overrun by lobbyists and the worst abusers of the
> pay-to-play campaign finance system,² said David Donnelly, Campaign Money
> Watch¹s director. ³McCain¹s reform credentials are gone. While two lobbyists
> have left, at least 112 lobbyists who are raising money for his campaign or
> staffing it remain. If he wants to restore his image he ought to take this
> initial step to fire these lobbyists today.²
> 
> The lobbyists singled out by the reform group are:
> 
> * Charlie Black, whose lobbying firm represented human rights abusers like
> Philipines President Ferdinand Marcos, Zaire dictator Mobuto Sese Seko,
> Somalia¹s Mohamed Siad Barre and Nigeria¹s Ibrahim Babangida, as well as
> foreign oil interests like the Chinese government¹s CNOOC. Black currently
> serves McCain as a spokesman and senior counsel;
> 
> * Tom Loeffler, whose firm has made more than $10 million since 2006 for
> lobbying for the Saudi Arabian monarchy and oil interests. Loeffler serves as
> McCain¹s national finance chairman; and
> 
> * Peter Madigan, a lobbyist whose firm received $800,000 to represent the
> United Arab Emirates in a class action suit over allegations that boys are
> enslaved and forced to be camel jockeys. He is also is a former lobbyist for
> Shell Oil. Madigan serves as a top fundraiser for McCain.
> 
> The demand to fire the lobbyists comes as McCain gives a speech on
> environmental policy today. Oil and gas interests have donated $780,662 in
> campaign contributions to McCain¹s candidate and leadership committees over
> his career, according to a Campaign Money Watch analysis of campaign finance
> data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
> 
> ³At a time when America needs to restore its image around the world, McCain¹s
> reliance on lobbyists who represent human rights abusers is unconscionable,²
> continued Donnelly. ³Adding insult to injury, while he makes an environmental
> speech today, voters ought to look at how he has been cozying up to big oil
> lobbyists and donors. That¹s why we are calling on McCain to fire lobbyists
> Black, Loeffler, and Madigan.²
> 
> Campaign Money Watch is a national campaign finance watchdog that works to
> hold politicians accountable for opposing comprehensive reform and doing
> favors for big money contributors. Campaign Money Watch is a project of the
> nonpartisan Public Campaign Action Fund.
> 
> ###

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