The Fifth Top Aide to McCain Resigns.... the Fifth !!!!!

[kentuck]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051802212.html?wpisrc=newsletter

<snip>
Tom Loeffler, the national finance co-chairman for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, resigned yesterday because of his lobbying ties, a campaign adviser said.

He is the fifth person to sever ties with the campaign amid a growing concern over whether lobbyists have too great an influence over the Republican nominee. Last week, campaign manager Rick Davis issued a new policy that requires all campaign personnel to either resign or sever ties with lobbying firms or outside political groups.

<snip>

McCain has built his reputation in Congress on fighting special interests and the lobbying culture, but he has been criticized for months about the number of lobbyists serving in key positions in his campaign. Until recently, his top political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., was the head of a Washington lobbying firm. Black retired in March from BKSH & Associates, the firm he helped found, to stay with the campaign. Davis ran a lobbying firm for several years but has said he is on leave from it.

Black, in particular, remains in the cross hairs of McCain's critics. Campaign Money Watch, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, yesterday praised Loeffler's departure but renewed its call for Black's departure. The group has launched a Web site, http://www.firethelobbyists.com, to urge McCain to rid his campaign of their influence. Loeffler's lobbying for Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments was revealed over the weekend.

McCain has steadfastly defended Black and Davis. "Charlie Black and Rick Davis are not in the lobbying business; they've been out of that business," he told reporters. "Charlie Black has been involved in every presidential campaign going back to President Reagan's first campaign. He has severed his connections with the lobbying group that he was with. Rick Davis has not been involved in any lobbying for years."

....more

[NJmaverick]

1. McCain is trying to sneak out all his lobbiest friends

before the house guests arrive. I wonder if it will work.

[annabanana]

2. "Charlie Black has been involved in every presidential campaign . . .

. . . . . going back to President Reagan's first campaign. '

Actually, that's not much of a defense, is it?

[Old and In the Way]

3. Black is the quintessential lobbyist/insider/corporate hack/fixer.

Sorry McCain, as long as he's directing your campaign, you are owned by the special interests he's managing. The fact that he's "resigned" as a lobbyist is a joke.

[Virginia Dare]

4. The McCain campaign is another K Street project..

Remember Vicky Iseman? She went down the memory hole didn't she?

[blondeatlast]

5. The m$m is all over it when a staffer on the Dem side resigns; I'm taking bets:

How muuch will the m$m cover this story?

My bet is--not at all, except MAYBE for KO if Hillary's been quiet. If she said a word, no coverage at all.

Just so we're all clear; I'm an Obama supporter but I smell media bias a mile away...