The Times' McCain Scandal - Timesman Stephen Labaton Covered This Eight Years Ago

Gabriel Sherman of The New Republic has a long piece on the background to the Times' reporting and publishing of their McCain "scandal" involving the FCC and a comely young lobbyist for Paxson.  However, a key bit of info is omitted by TNR - Times reporter Stephen Labaton, who has a byline on the outrage du jour, mustered a couple of front-pagers reporting in numbing detail on the McCain-Paxson connection back in Jan 2000, although that attempt at scandal was quenched by a McCain document dump.  Consequently, this latest hit piece is Mr. Labaton's second bite of the apple; if the Times story slides past the Paxson details (as noted by Megan McCardle and others), it is not because the Times reporters were unaware of them, but rather because they quit on the ethical "scandal" eight years ago.

Some flavor:

McCain Urged F.C.C. Action On Issue Involving Supporter

By STEPHEN LABATON

Published: January 6, 2000

Senator John McCain, who has made fixing the corrosive influence of money in politics the cornerstone of his campaign, twice demanded in recent weeks that a regulatory agency take action in a matter that ultimately benefited a major contributor to his presidential campaign.

Or the next day:

January 7, 2000
Issue for McCain Is Matching Record With His Rhetoric

By STEPHEN LABATON

Eleven years ago, Senator John McCain defended himself against ethics accusations for his ties to a corrupt savings association and a campaign contributor by saying that he had performed a legitimate constituent service when he met with regulators who were preparing to seize the institution.

And eight years later, here we go again.

Mr. Kleiman, evidently unwise to the ways of Washington, asks this:

Is it routine for a Senator from Arizona to pressure regulatory agencies on behalf of companies based in Florida?

Let's see what Mr. Paxson himself had to say about this, as quoted by Stephen Labaton on Jan 6, 2000:

Mr. Paxson said he had given money to many politicians, and was involved in one fund-raiser in Florida that was the largest ever for Democrats in that state.

''I'm a political person,'' Mr. Paxson said. ''Why? Because I happen to be in a business that politics is very heavily involved in.''

My FEC search on Lowell Paxson shows many donations; the tilt is Republican but I notice donations to Democrats John Dingell, Charles Rangel, Ed Markey (House Dem and Telecom Subcommittee Chair), Bob Graham, Harry Reid, Bill Nelson, Daniel Inouye, Mark Foley (oops!), Max Cleland, and Ernest Hollings, as well as many Republicans.  Gee, is it normal for a Florida businessman to make so many contributions to politicians of both parties from around the nation?  Sure, if his business is politically sensitive, as Mr. Paxson averred.

Back in 2000 McCain defused the issue with a document dump, as James Risen reported on Jan 9:

January 9, 2000
Responding to Criticism, McCain Releases Letters
By James Risen

Senator John McCain of Arizona released hundreds of letters today that he has sent to federal agencies under the jurisdiction of his powerful Senate committee, including more than a dozen involving the businesses of contributors to his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Mr. McCain said he was acting to defuse criticism of his interventions before the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of companies regulated by that agency, one of many supervised by the Commerce Committee, which he has headed since 1997.

In sheer volume, the release of more than two years of committee correspondence was both a remarkable display of openness and an effort to show that there was nothing unusual in what Mr. McCain has done by writing to agencies that regulate the companies whose employees have supported his campaign.

''If people view them in their entirety, they will see that I have acted on one fundamental principle, to protect the consumer,'' the senator said today while on a campaign swing through South Carolina. ''The overwhelming majority of these communications are: 'Please act, please act.' ''

...

The letters to the Federal Communications Commission show that in several instances, Mr. McCain sought help for companies in telecommunications and related fields that have also given to his presidential campaign.

But officials from both the McCain campaign and the Senate committee stressed today that the letters were sometimes sent without prompting from lobbyists and contributors, and that they reflected Mr. McCain's longtime policy positions. Some were also written jointly with other members of the Commerce panel, including Democrats.

Risen didn't brandish a smoking gun, and a month later the Times kissed and made up with a McCain The Maverick piece:

February 13, 2000
THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: THE SPECIAL INTERESTS; McCain Broke With His Party in Licensing Flap

By JOHN M. BRODER AND DON VAN NATTA JR.

I'm surprised that Gabriel Sherman of TNR missed all this backstory to the backstory.  Here is how Stephen Labaton is presented in the current TNR story:

The McCain investigation began in November, after Rutenberg, who covers the political media and advertising beat, got a tip. Within a few days, Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet assigned Thompson and Labaton to join the project and, later, conservative beat reporter David Kirkpatrick to chip in as well. Labaton brought his expertise with regulatory issues to the team...

And a bit later:

Of the reporters in the room, Bennett knew Labaton the best. In the 1990s, Labaton had covered the Whitewater investigation, and Bennett viewed him as a straight-shooting, accurate reporter who could be reasoned with.

I would be shocked if Bennet was not also aware of Labaton's early work on the Paxson-McCain story.

So, let's try for a Big Finish - the Times dropped these torpedoes in the water in 2000 and misfired then; now they are back, with a piece heavy with innuendo and padded by chit-chat about the Keating case.  But eight years ago they gave up on the ethical scandal, and their sourcing for the sex scandal probably would not pass muster at the National Enquirer.

Props to Greg Sargent, who correctly notes that if the Times wrote this thin a story about a Democrat, lefties would leap from tall buildings.

 

 

Comments

[Thomas Collins]

I must be missing something. What of substance has the snoozepaper of record dug up about this matter that wasn't known eight years ago?

I actually think it is unfair to The National Enquirer to be calling the NYT story tabloid journalism. At least a tabloid would have found something juicier after eight years to even consider running this story.

[butwait]

Yea, I have to agree with you. They'd do the country a service by writing stories instead about how McCain has gutted the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Did you know that the McCain-Feingold Act doesn't limit money in politics, but does outlaw anyone saying anything untoward about Senator McCain 60 days before an election?

Is this the party of Lincoln? Or Lenin?

[Forbes]

And Democrat Bob Bennett, the special counsel in the "Keating Five" S&L scandal, has this to say (in his new book) about McCain:

"At the completion of my investigation, I filed my report with the committee. I recommended that no further action be taken against Senators McCain and Glenn principally because once they learned that there was a criminal referral, they stopped aggressively doing Keating's bidding with the regulators. However, I also recommended that the committee proceed with ethics charges against Senators Cranston, DeConcini, and Reigle and hold a hearing to look into their conduct. I believed that the evidence showed clearly that these three had violated Senate Rules and should be held accountable. My recommendation that the only Republican in the group, John McCain, be exonerated caused a big political problem, but my recommendations were based on evidence and not politics. Perhaps those who knew me to be a Democrat thought I would act differently, but they did not know me very well. ...

This was perhaps the first time the recommendation of a special counsel not to charge a senator was rejected. This was pure politics as the Democrats on the committee did not want to cut McCain loose so that only Democrats would remain in the proceedings. If Senator McCain was not going to be cut loose, in retaliation the Republicans were going to keep Senator Glenn in the proceedings. McCain was the victim of politics, and poor Glenn, he was held captive to the decision on McCain. So much for nonpartisanship." (from John J. Miller over in The Corner)

Politics--you don't have to like it, but you've got to live with it.

[anduril]

Is it routine for a Senator from Arizona to pressure regulatory agencies on behalf of companies based in Florida?

What a knucklehead! Does he think good government comes cheap, or that it's covered by salaries? Of course Paxson spread the money around--what's he supposed to do when they've all got their hands out?

[Cecil Turner]

Is this the party of Lincoln? Or Lenin?

"Lenin" would be the "Feingold" part.

[windansea]

John Weaver has issued a statement that exposes the New York Times story on John McCain as a hack job. Part of their supposed corroboration of the gossip about an allegedly budding romance between McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman was his alleged intervention to stop it. Weaver, who no longer works for the campaign, says he told the Times that his intervention had nothing to do with an affair:

Iseman had bragged about her connections to the committee in order to expand her client list. Weaver heard about it and told her to knock it off, or she’d get frozen out. Lobbyists collect clients by making themselves appear influential, and apparently Iseman got a little too hyperbolic about her connections.

That’s the extent of the supposed “intervention” — and the Times knew it.

Opinksy also said that the Times use of the phrase “associates” to describe their McCain sources suggests that the leak may not have come from his campaign staffers at the time.
“There was only a handful of us [working on the campaign in 1999],” Opinksy said. “We never had a staff meeting to address any of this.”

Asked who was behind the story, Opinksy said: “Lobbyists tell a lot of tall tales.

“What’s behind this is money. There were a bunch of lobbyists in town who knew that if John McCain became president they were going to have a hard time.”

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/017061.php

[Pofarmer]

And the newsmonkies on the radio dutifully repeat the story every 15 minutes, with the "McCain denies" caveat, of course.

[clarice]

This broke too early to be useful to anyone but McCain. The public pays no attention to policy initiatives--sex, scandal, lies, and hope are the themes they seem enthralled with--and media bias. He's going to play Pinch like a well-tuned harmonica.

[MikeS]

According to the NYTs, 8 years ago McCain was friendly with with a female lobbyist. Since 2000 NYTs reporters have investigated McCain's relationship with that lobbyist's client Lowell Paxson.

Over that time period the Times reporters could find no evidence of anything illegal, unethical, or immoral about McCain's behavior toward the lobbyist or her telecom client.

The NYTs reporters found this lack of evidence very suspicious, and decided to publish a story about their suspicions.

I think Shakespeare had it wrong. First we should deal with the journalists.

[Jane]

You know at some point the big fall has to come for journalists. Enough people are going to realize they have been lied to for years. I wonder how it will play out. Hopefully it will start with the bankruptcy of the New York Times.

[clarice]

Newsbusters is reporting that one of the four journos was caught in a play for pay scandal already, paid to dig up dirt on a republican.

You know, it's time to do the same thing to all the reporters involved--check out their lives with a fine toothed comb and report one's suspicions. Let's see how the Fourth Estate likes playing by the same rules.

[Bill in AZ]

"Hopefully it will start with the bankruptcy of the New York Times."

And hopefully someone will mark a grave for the NYTimes - with a beer garden close by...

[SteveMG]

You don't, well, shouldn't, run a story of this magnitude with the seriousness of the allegations against a party's presidential candidate based on two anonymous sources.

That's not nailing a story down.

It may be true; or parts of it.

But this story is way too weak to run as it is.

My guess is that they rushed it out before the New Republic piece was published.

[Topsecretk9]

Jeez..between Linda Greenhouse et al, does the Times hire anyone not in the liberal advocacy tank? One of the reporters was involved in a liberal pay for play doo dah

[Topsecretk9]

oh. Clarice already commented this.

[clarice]

Do you suppose this piece was ghost written by the now freed up Jason Leopold?

[Enlightened]

Jason Who? I thought he changed his name to Scott Beauchamp!

[Topsecretk9]

More Kentucky

A reader has alerted us to another Kentucky connection to the McCain story. Vicki Iseman, the lobbyist whose connections to McCain are at the center of the NYT story, is ably assisted by Kentucky native and UK graduate John Esham. Esham, who is described as "Iseman's right-hand-man," has served as a staffer in Congressman Ben Chandler's office.

[Tom Maguire]

I am taken by Bill Keller's explanation that in December the story was not ready but now it is tied down. Geez, it must have been soap bubbles back then; now it is upgraded to a balloon in the wind.

[MayBee]

Enough people are going to realize they have been lied to for years

Unfortunately, if you look at Daily Kos or the Huffington Post, some of the outrage seems to be that the NYTs didn't go with this story sooner- that they held it to benefit McCain.
And Jay Rosen, who has never seen a forest with all the trees in the way, says:

Lots of people will be asking why now? but my first question was different: why endorse?

He apparently never got around to wondering "why?"

[GMax]

TM

Wrong analogy. More like a fart in the wind. Same scent.

[Other Tom]

James Taranto:

"The biggest beneficiary of the way the Times handled this may be McCain himself. The allegations are insubstantial to begin with, and the circumstances of their publication make it easy for his campaign to draw attention away from the story and toward the Times. What's more, the story ended up coming out late enough not to stand in the way of McCain's getting the GOP nomination, yet early enough that it will be long forgotten come November."

[GMax]

Dont bother looking at Kos or Huffpo, those folks are not going to ever vote for a Republican, even John McCain is far off their mark.

But there are plenty of moderate Democrats, and an even bigger pile of independents who will vote for him. And pounding the NYT like a big mouthed step child will garner him both respect and votes. Lots of these folks have an innate sense of fairness and the Times did not just step on the line they jumped totally out of the circle.

New polls before the faux scandal of course have McCain up on Obama in Pennsylvania. Go to an Electoral College map and see how big a hole that would rip in their electoral quilt. Damn near fatal, and best of all it would likely be reported early in the evening before poll close in the West, maybe depressing turnout there for the Dems and adding House seat to the R side of the aisle.

Avalanches usually start with a rumble and there is a pause and its not immediately evident that one is taking place for a bit. We may be right there in the Presidential race.

[clarice]

"I am taken by Bill Keller's explanation that in December the story was not ready but now it is tied down. Geez, it must have been soap bubbles back then; now it is upgraded to a balloon in the wind."

I think Bill Keller just wrote his ticket out of the bldg..or secured a seat next to Pinch when the SS NYT goes down for the final count which I predict is in 12 business months.

[Anon]

How in the hell are people questioning the timing?

Go re-read their endorsement of McCain-it has an eery similiarity to the current piece.

The McCain endorsement one part McCain, five parts negative on Rudy.

Similiar in this piece is one part Iseman and five parts Keating.

How naive is Gergen-he doesn't think there is anything to the "timing".

Well it's funny that if you read the TNR piece the Washington NYT office wanted to run with it but it was the NYC offices of the NYT dragging.

Why?

Is it that hard?

Mo Do and Frank Rich-

Mo Do:Well if we run this piece now in December who would it help?

Frank Rich: Oh my stars and theatre tickets it would help our first nemesis Giuliani!

Mo Do: Well exactly because you know my dumb brother -the Republican told me that- Rudy and McCain's voters overlap like a Viennese Diaphram or something.

Frank: Ooooh a Viennese Diaphram how exciting!

[clarice]

Maybe Murtha's campaigning for Obama or Hill will turn the tide. *heh* By now even his uninformed district must have caught wind of his Haditha outrage.

[Anon]

Gmax-

Pennsylvania baby.

Put Ridge as VP...

Speaking of which they could be remembering him pretty fondly in comparison to Rendell.

Plus next to Obama Ridge's resume as VP would make the Presidential Creds of Obama look like-

What they are...

[GMax]

David Gergen is invited on shows for one reason, he is nominally a Republican but can reliably be counted on to say stuff that sounds like a Democrat. The Ex Senator from Maine Cohen? is exactly the same.

Gergen served under Clinton remember. Nuff said?

[Rick Ballard]

"Ooooh a Viennese Diaphram how exciting!"

OK Anon - if that's your real name - that takes thread and day.

[clarice]

Murtha was also just named Porker of the Year. What a guy! (he looks like a porker, too.)

[GMax]

NO way on Ridge. Pennsylvania in the bag I want to move to another decent sized state. Maryland or Minnesota. That means Pawlenty or Steele. Either has the potential to draw in a surrounding state that is competitive as well. Add in NJ to Maryland or Wisconsin to Minn and you have a bunch of EC votes.

[michaelt]

GMax, so did Cohen.

[Bill in AZ]

OK, we've been had by MSM repeatedly... the real question is what are RW and BHO up to today that MSM is hiding? Or did they lob this dud just to get us off of MO's troubles?

[GMax]

I had forgotten about Cohen but I knew there was something I detested about the guy.

[GMax]

Pennsylvania has 21 EC votes, 1 more than Ohio and just 6 less than Florida. A big Prize, as Minnesota and Wisconsin together are only 19.

[Topsecretk9]

Howard Dean on McCain

“He doesn’t seem to have an instinct about what is the right thing to do and what isn’t the right thing to do.”

and “doesn’t seem to really have an ethical compass”

Sooo. I guess Bill's, ahem, documented BJs really, really, were bad and made him unfit for office, Democrats were just lying and dishonestly defending him.

Thanks for clearing that up Howard.

[GMax]

The same Howard Dean who quit his church in a huff over a dispute over a jogging path? What might he know about moral compasses?

[MayBee]

Dont bother looking at Kos or Huffpo, those folks are not going to ever vote for a Republican, even John McCain is far off their mark.

I know they'll never vote for McCain, but it is their ability to fan a flame that bothers me. Or is it that they are bellwethers?
Either way, I've seen the stories they focus on too often remain in focus and harmful, even if there is no there there. See: Valerie Plame, Cindy Sheehan, Jeff Gannon

[MayBee]

shoot sorry

[Jane]

Geez the guy on Fox just called the New Republic "right leaning".

And on the panel they talked about Obama being clean with lobbyists and McCain getting lots of money, when Obama has gotten 10 million on lobbyist contributions and McCain 2 million.

[PeterUK]

Looks like an attempt to Foley MaCain.

[Rick Ballard]

OT,

Bill Roggio reports that Sadr has extended the hudna for another six months. That may allow completion of the oil revenue sharing agreement in addition to providing a guarantee against an increase in sectarian violence.

More good news for the Iraqi people and bad news for AQ and their Copperhead allies.

[clarice]

More bad news for the media which was just reporting without any fact that Sadr would break the truce.
As for the McCain story, Capt Ed seems to agree with me--Bill Keller is insane,
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/017067.php

[Bill in AZ]

OT good news - AZ Congressman John Shadegg, who announced last week that he would not seek reelection, has reconsidered (at the urging of MANY) and will run for election again. He is one of the sharpest members at understanding House and Senate rules, and has helped the Reps sidestep several IED's placed by the likes of Pelosi and Reid.

http://www.espressopundit.com/

Last Thursday, 146 of my colleagues in the U.S. House signed a letter asking me to reconsider, an unprecedented event. Yesterday I received a letter signed by the leaders of 33 different Conservative organizations from across America also urging me to reverse my announced intentions.

...

One event I will never forget, epitomizes their messages to me. Last weekend, returning to Phoenix from Washington, I was trudging through Sky Harbor at 5:30 in the morning, having spent four hours sleeping at the Las Vegas airport awaiting a delayed flight. As I walked toward the baggage claim, an airport security worker was walking the opposite direction down the corridor, presumably on his way to work. We exchanged tired glances as we each headed on our separate ways, but just as we passed, he said "Run again!" Shocked, I simply said, "Thanks." I did not know him, and we exchanged no other words. But he, like thousands of my constituents, just wanted me to know what he thought.

[hit and run]

You know what would be totally audacious?

Obama making a statement decrying the politics of personal destruction on the part of the NYT, publishing a story full of innuendo with little or no substance or evidence -- saying he believes John McCain to be an honorable man, full of integrity, and dedicated to public service. That he disagrees with him sharply on many policies, most notably Iraq, but that in terms of ethics and moral standards, John is a public servant he trusts.

I only say this because I know that I am one of the last persons Obama would ever take campaign advice from.

[Topsecretk9]

Pot? Meet kettle, I mean Keller

...Gilbey, at the time, had a reputation as something of a power-dater; her exes included Senator John Kerry and Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. An affair ensued, which shocked Keller’s friends.

[MayBee]

PUK-
The other day you proposed a slogan "Change you're used to...." and I've been chuckling about it to myself ever since. Brilliant!

[Jane]

I wonder if the NY Times broke the McCain story to get Obama's plagerism out of the news. Or maybe it was Bush's successful trip to Africa. Or perhaps Hillary's crash. There clearly was another motive than bashing McCain, given the timing.

[Jane]

Okay where is Elliott and where is out new thread? Harummph!

[hit and run]

Jane, dear, I know you know and you know that I know you know, but I want to make sure the we both know that we know we know. But I don't want to make it easy for "them" to know that we know that we know, so let's put it in code...

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