Exposed: McCain team includes 83 Wall Street lobbyists John Byrne

Published: Wednesday September 17, 2008





Print This Email This As Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) rails against Wall Street while concurrently benefiting from its largesse, some journalists are getting tired.



David Corn -- an investigative reporter formerly with The Nation and currently reporting for Mother Jones -- has printed a list of 83 Wall Street lobbyists he says are working for or have bundled contributions for McCain. The Democratic National Committee has previously accused McCain of using 177 lobbyists either as campaign aides, advisers or fundraisers.



Corn notes that former Sen. Phil Gramm, the Arizona senator's onetime campaign chairman and economic adviser, slipped into law a provision that kept credit default swaps unregulated, dramatically kindling to the current financial fires.



"Of those 177 lobbyists, according to a Mother Jones review of Senate and House records, at least 83 have in recent years lobbied for the financial industry McCain now attacks," Corn writes. "These are high-paid influence-peddlers who have been working the corridors of the nation's capital to win favors and special treatment for investment banks, securities firms, hedge funds, accounting outfits, and insurance companies. Their clients have included AIG, the newest symbol of corporate excess; Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday sending the stock market into a tailspin; Merrill Lynch, which was bought out by Bank of America this week; and Washington Mutual, the banking giant that could be the next to fall.



"Among these 83 lobbyists are McCain's chief political adviser, Charlie Black (JP Morgan, Washington Mutual Bank, Freddie Mac, Mortgage Bankers Association of America); McCain's national finance co-chairman, Wayne Berman (AIG, Blackstone, Credit Suisse, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac); the campaign's congressional liaison, John Green (Carlyle Group, Citigroup, Icahn Associates, Fannie Mae); McCain's veep vetter, Arthur Culvahouse (Fannie Mae); and McCain's transition planning chief, William Timmons Sr. (Citigroup, Freddie Mac, Vanguard Group)."



Obama's anti-lobbyist rhetoric, meanwhile, has irked other reporters, among them Newsweek's Michael Isikoff. Isikoff noted that Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, worked for a firm that hoodwinked Illinois consumers by convincing them a California-style crises would befall them unless they increased electric rates.



Axelrod adamantly denied the charge. "I've never lobbied anybody in my life," he said. "I've never talked to any public official on behalf of a corporate client."



Obama also put James Johnson, the former CEO of Fannie Mae, on his vice presidential search committee team. Johnson resigned in June.



The full McCain list is printed below.



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Phil Anderson: American Council of Life Insurers, Aetna, AIG, New York Life, MassMutual, VISA



Rebecca Anderson: Aegon, American Council of Life Insurers, Cigna, Barclays, Credit Suisse First Boston, HSBC



Stanton Anderson: The Debt Exchange



David Beightol: Allstate, Amerigroup, Charles Schwab, HSBC



Rhonda Bentz: VISA



Wayne Berman: American Council of Life Insurers, AIG, Americhoice, Shinsei Bank, Blackstone, Carlyle Group, Broidy Capital Management, Credit Suisse Securities, Highstar Capital, VISA, Ameriquest Mortgage, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Fitch Ratings



Charlie Black: JP Morgan, Washington Mutual Bank, Freddie Mac, Mortgage Bankers Association of America, National Association of Mortgage Brokers



Judy Black: Colorado Credit Union League, Genworth Financial, Bay Harbour Management, Merrill Lynch



Kirk Blalock: Credit Union National Association, Financial Executives International, American Insurance Association, Mutual of Omaha, Zurich Financial Service Group, Fannie Mae, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco



Carlos Bonilla: Financial Services Roundtable, Freddie Mac



Christine Burgeson: Citigroup



Mark Buse: Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs, Manufacturers Life Insurance Company



Nicholas Calio: Citigroup, Managed Fund Association, Fannie Mae, Merrill Lynch, The Investment Company Institute, TIAA-CRE, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association



Ben Nighthorse Campbell: Amscot Financial Corporation, Community Financial Services Association, Fidelity National Financial



Andrew Cantor: American Insurance Association, Merrill Lynch



Alberto Cardenas: Fannie Mae



James Courter: Goldman Sachs, Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, Investment Company Institute, Merrill Lynch



David Crane: Financial Services Roundtable, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG, Ernst & Young, Bank of America, Association of Corporate Credit Unions, Freddie Mac



Dan Crippen: Merrill Lynch, National Multi-Housing Council



Arthur Culvahouse: Fannie Mae



Bryan Cunningham: Arch Capital Group



Alfonse D'Amato: AIG, Freddie Mac



Doug Davenport: Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, Goldman Sachs, VISA



Ashley Davis: Prudential Financial, American Financial Group, American Premier Underwriters, Great American Insurance Company



Mimi Dawson: MassMutual



Melissa Edwards: Freddie Mac, National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Access to Capital Coalition



Chris Fidler: American Bankers Association, Milcom Venture Partners, National Association Real Estate Investment Trusts



Samuel Geduldig: American Bankers Association, American Institute of CPAs, America Gains, Berkshire Hathaway, Consumer Bankers Association, Ernst & Young, Financial Services Roundtable, Investment Company Institute, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Prudential Financial, Sovereign Investment Council, Fidelity Investments, FMR Corp.



Benjamin Ginsberg: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, AIG Technical Services



David Girard-Dicarlo: American Financial Group, American Premier Underwriters



Juleanna Glover Weiss: RJI Capital, American Institute of CPAs, BNP Paribas, Ernst & Young, PriceWaterhouseCoopers



Slade Gorton: Allstate Insurance, Hannan Armstrong Capital



Phil Gramm: UBS Americas



John Green: Laredo National Bank, Alternative Investment Management Association, AIG, Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, Citigroup, Credit Suisse Group, Fannie Mae, Icahn Associates, FMR Corp., AFLAC, VISA



Janet Grissom: American Institute of CPAs, NYSE, Merrill Lynch



Kristen Gullott: San Diego Credit Union



Kent Hance: Stanford Financial Group, Municipal Capital Markets Group, Inc.



Vicki Hart: American Financial Services Association, Citigroup, Investment Company Institute, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, New York Stock Exchange, VISA, Carlyle Group, Credit Suisse, Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, Goldman Sachs, National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, Stanford Group, Lloyd's of London, National City Corp.



Richard Hohlt: Capmark Financial Group, Fannie Mae, JP Morgan Chase and Co., Student Loan Marketing Association, Washington Mutual, Guaranty Bank & Trust, Peachtree Settlement Funding, Dime Savings Bank of New York



Gaylord Hughey: Heartland Security Insurance Group



Kate Hull: Credit Union National Association, Fannie Mae, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, Zurich Financial Services, American Insurance Association, Financial Executives International



James Hyland: American Insurance Association, Seattle Home Loan Bank, Self Help Credit Union, National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, Merrill Lynch, Mortgage Investors Corp., Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, Freddie Mac, New York Stock Exchange, Citigroup, VISA



Aleix Jarvis: Credit Union National Association, Fannie Mae, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, Financial Executives International, Mutual of Omaha, American Insurance Association, Zurich Financial Services



Greg Jenner: American Council of Life Insurers, JG Wentworth, UBS, VISA, PriceWaterhouseCoopers



Frank Keating: American Council of Life Insurers



Steven Kuykendall: California Bankers Association



William Lesher: Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Commerce Ventures, Rabobank International



Thomas Loeffler: Citigroup, Fannie Mae, Investment Company Institute, World Savings and Loan Association, United Services Automobile Association (USAA)



Kelly Lugar: RJI Capital Strategies



Peter Madigan: Arthur Andersen, Bank of New York, Broadridge Securities Processing, Charles Schwab, Deloitte and Touche, Goldman Sachs, International Employee Stock Option Coalition, Mastercard, NYSE, Fannie Mae, Merrill Lynch, PNC Bank



Mary Mann: MassMutual



Paul Martino: Morgan Stanley, Baker Tilly



Jana McKeag: Venture Catalyst



Alison McSlarrow: Fannie Mae, Hartford



Mike Meece: Georgetown Partners



David Metzner: Ernst & Young, Harbinger Capital Investments, Prudential, Public Financial Management, Western Union



Susan Molinari: Freddie Mac, American Land Title Association, Association of Consumer Credit Unions, Beacon Capital Partners, College Loan Corp, Coventry First, E-Trade, Financial Services Roundtable, Rent-A-Center



John Moran: Cerberus Capital Management, American Council of Life Insurers, Accenture



John Napier: Freddie Mac



Susan Nelson: AIG, San Antonio Credit Union



Paul Otellini: Ernst & Young, Financial Services Forum



Steve Perry: Charles Schwab, Hoover Partners, HSBC, National Stock Exchange



Nancy Pfotenhauer: American Land Title Association, Mortgage Bankers Association



Elise Pickering-Finley: Credit Suisse, DE Shaw, Hartford Financial Services, Research In Motion, Retail Industry Lenders Association, URL Mutual



James Pitts: Advanced Association for Life Underwriting, AETNA, American Council of Life Insurers, AIG, Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, Debt Advisory International, Financial Services Coordinating Council, GE Financial Assurance, Hartford Life, Jefferson Pilot Financial, Kenwood Investments, MassMutual, Mutual of Omaha, New York Life, UNUM Provident, VISA, PMI Group



Tim Powers: AP Capital, Genworth Financial, Retail Industry Lenders Association, E-LOAN, General Electric Mortgage Insurance



Walter Price: Wachovia



Sloan Rappoport: Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. (FBR), Trafelet Delta Funds



Hans Rickhoff: Capital One, Investment Company Institute, United Services Automobile Association (USAA)



Kathleen Shanahan: New York Stock Exchange



Andrew Shore: Accenture, Retail Industry Lenders Association, Barclays, Bond Market Association, Credit Suisse, TPG Capital



Katie Stahl: Alliance for Investment Transparency, Ares Management, Fairfax Financial Holdings, Uhlmann Financial Group



Milly Stanges: TIAA-CREF



Aquiles Suarez: Fannie Mae



Don Sundquist: Freddie Mac, The Hartford



Peter Terpeluk: JP Morgan Chase, Ernst & Young, Prudential



Fred Thompson: Equitas



Jeri Thompson: American Insurance Association



John Timmons: National Association of Federal Credit Unions



William Timmons Sr.: American Council of Life Insurers, Citigroup, Dun & Bradstreet, Freddie Mac, Vanguard Group



Vin Weber: Agstar Financial Services, AKT Investment Corp., American Institute of CPAs, Ernst & Young, Freddie Mac, Louis Dreyfus Corp, PriceWaterhouseCoopers



Jeffery Weiss: JP Morgan



Tony Williams: Russell Investment Group, American Life Inc., Northwestern Mutual



