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How to buy John McCain

Today's Washington Post reports on the latest successful purchase of John McCain's services -- yielding a sweet real estate deal for an Arizona developer in the wake of his $100,000 campaign contribution. But that railer against the role of money in politics appears to have been bought many times before -- and American workers and taxpayers have paid the price.

The Washington Post reports that McCain pushed legislation that let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest there for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers. Specifically, Steven A. Betts, who raised $100,000 for McCain, got the job of developing rancher Fred Ruskin's land after McCain's legislation helped Ruskin pick it up at below market rates.

But this is at least the fifth transaction where a campaign contributor has benefited from McCain's power. Here are five others:

  • $100 billion U.S. Air Force contract to European company, EADS. In March 2008, McCain used his position on the Senate Armed Services Committee to help EADS, parent of Airbus, a former client of his national finance chairman, win a $100 billion Air Force contract against Boeing Inc. (NYSE: BA) after receiving $14,000 in donations from EADS employees.
  • Del Webb land deal. In 1994, McCain helped a lobbyist for land developer Del Webb Corp. pursue an exchange in the Las Vegas area.
  • Diamond land deal. In 1991 and 1994, McCain sponsored two bills sought by donor Donald R. Diamond that yielded the developer thousands of acres in trade for national parkland.
  • Lindner land deal. In the late 1990s, McCain promoted a deal in Arizona's Tonto National Forest involving property part-owned by Great American Life Insurance, a company run by billionaire Carl H. Lindner Jr., a big contributor to national political parties and presidential candidates.
  • $3.4 billion Keating S&L bailout. In the 1980s, he intervened to keep regulators away from Charles Keating, a Savings & Loan operator, who contributed to McCain's campaign and let McCain's wife co-invest in a real estate deal. Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan ultimately failed, costing taxpayers $3.4 billion.

I think it may be worth investigating whether there are any documents that connect the McCain campaign donations to these favorable business outcomes for the donors. Otherwise, they might just be coincidences.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He is working on a book about Boeing and has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

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Last updated: May 11, 2008: 11:40 PM

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