McCain, Dems Reap Cash From Global Crossing
Back to the Global Crossing Page
Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com
Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2002WASHINGTON – The mostly Democrat cash cow involving bankrupt Global Crossing has also netted cash for the anti-Bush Republican, McCain, who has built a "reform” crusade that leaves the impression he thinks nearly everyone except himself is unethical.
The Washington Times on Monday printed an outline of how the telecommunications giant dispensed its campaign largesse. Of the five top Senate recipients, the No. 1 beneficiary was none other than the Democrat-like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Mr. Campaign Finance "Reform" himself, who appears not to care that his campaign proposals would stifle free speech and empower pro-Democrat unions and media at the expense of Republicans.
Here the lawmaker who was once taken to task on the Senate floor for impugning the ethical sensitivity of his colleagues is found to have taken more money than any other senator from a company that:
Like Enron, blocked trading in employees’ 401 (k) plans while changing administrators.
Like Enron, has been accused of inflating its worth on balance sheets. Like Enron, got a clean bill of health from the Arthur Andersen accounting firm. Citing the Center for Responsive Politics, the Times says that from 1997 to 2001, McCain got $31,000 from the Global Crossing PAC and individual contributors.
Right behind him is Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., at $30,750. The other three senators in the top five are Democrats: $24,000 for Dianne Feinstein of California, and $20,000 each for Edward Kennedy John Kerry, both of Massachusetts.
Although Democrats did only slightly better than Republicans in the Senate listings, they left their GOP counterparts in the dust among the top five House recipients of Global Crossing cash, $31,750 vs. $8,000. And bear in mind, the Republicans have a majority in the House.
Also don’t forget that Judicial Watch investigators are still working to see if one can connect the dots on a Global Crossing gift to the Clinton Presidential Library, a Pentagon contract in the Clinton administration, and Democrat national chairman Terry McAuliffe’s astonishing 18,000 percent profit of $18 million on a $100,000 investment in Global Crossing.
It is only fair to mention, of course, that taking campaign cash from a company that went bankrupt under suspicious circumstances does not make the recipient corrupt.
Blatant Media Bias and Hypocrisy
The point is that the political flak over Enron is driven by many of the same people who are hip-deep in Global Crossing cash. The media establishment is all over the Enron story, but with notable exceptions, the mainstream news outlets have been hushing up Global Crossing. Why?
And media watchers want to know why it is that what TV talk host Bill O’Reilly has called "the pinhead press” was nagging President Bush for not mentioning Enron in his State of the Union address, and yet these same media mavens do not nag the top official of the Democrat party about his direct link to Global Crossing.
As Jim Grisham, producer of Sean Hannity’s radio talk show, noted in an e-mail: "Where is Terry? Start checking milk cartons.”
As for McCain, his answer to those questioning such campaign gifts in the past has been that he’s only playing by the rules. He says he doesn’t like those rules, which is why he wants to change them, but to refrain from taking advantage of current rules would force him to campaign with one hand tied behind his back.
While that argument may have a certain cachet of logic about it, some observers believe it is also tinged with irony: "Stop me before I take more!”
Boon for McCain and Other Incumbents
Moreover, it ignores the plain fact that the senator’s anti-First Amendment bill, by cutting off soft-money ads within 60 days of a general election, would force non-incumbents with lower name recognition to campaign with one hand tied behind their backs. All the lawmakers voting on that measure, of course, happen to be incumbents. (Bob's Note: McCain's proposal would make it nearly impossible for a challenger to unseat a corrupt and well financed incumbent. But on the other hand, if you know the real story about John McCain, you'd know why he'd love to have it that way. The smarmy, stupid "war hero" who while imprisoned with many others during the Viet Nam war, did favors by ratting on the other POW's to get himself favors.)
The Washington Times also published a breakdown of Global Crossing executives’ campaign contributions in 1999-2000, as derived from records of the Federal Election Commission. Of the $102,000 attributed to the Democrats, $40,000 of it went to an entity called Committee for a Democratic Majority.
A spokesman for that group told NewsMax.com that this is Sen. Kennedy’s organization, "which works to elect Democratic majorities in the Senate and in the House,” and accepts hard and soft money.
Eight Global Crossing executives contributed $5,000 each to this one group. Only one similar donation shows up in the GOP column. And that is a single $10,000 to the Republican National Committee. Most of the other donations in both parties were for individuals.
Forty thousand dollars as against $10,000. That suggests that while Global Crossing was careful to cover its bases in both camps, its political heart, backed by megabucks, was with the Democrat party.
This is the same Democrat party, remember, whose operatives – the Carvilles, the Shrums, and the McAuliffes – have been working round the clock, so far without success, to tie President Bush to Enron’s troubles.
The powerful liberal media can ignore this story all they want. NewsMax.com will see to it that the scandal does not go away.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Clinton Scandals
DNC
Enron
Media Bias
Sen. John McCain
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