By Billy House
Media General News Service
Media General News Service
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WASHINGTON -- John McCain is continuing to bask today in his week-long “biographical tour” with a visit to Jacksonville's Naval Air Station Cecil Field.
But the Democratic National Committee, in a press release that could signal a repetitive theme in coming months, asks when on the tour McCain is going to address his involvement in the “Keating Five” scandal, which became synonymous for the kinds of political influence that money can buy.
McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has been seizing on opportunities such as today’s visit to Jacksonville to reintroduce himself to voters while the Democratic presidential candidates continue to do battle with each other.
Earlier this week McCain visited his old high school in Virginia.
Today’s appearance in Jacksonville will mark the place he was stationed before he left as a young Navy aviator for Vietnam and where he returned after being released as a prisoner of war.
But in its snarky press release, the DNC has noted something else about this week: Yesterday marked the 21st anniversary of McCain's first meeting with bank regulators on behalf of Keating's savings and loan.
“During which part of his biography tour does John McCain plan to address the Keating Five scandal?” the release asks.
There was no immediate response today from the McCain campaign.
Even if McCain doesn’t have any plans to do so, others have done so and certainly will in upcoming months.
In fact, in a book released just last year by one of McCain’s own former Arizona colleagues and fellow “Keating Fiver,” Dennis DeConcini has a lot to say about when he, McCain and three other senators were investigated by the Senate ethics committee in 1991. Democrat DeConcini served as an Arizona senator from 1977 to 1995, and he and McCain have long had strained relations.
That Keating inquiry centered on whether the five pressured federal regulators on behalf of Charles H. Keating Jr., a Phoenix financier, and his Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. Each senator had received campaign donations from Keating.
In Senator “Dennis DeConcini: From the Center of the Aisle,” DeConcini depicts McCain as having stabbed him and the three other senators during the investigation by leaking misleading and damaging information to the media.
DeConcini also asserts that McCain gained leniency from the committee because of a close relationship with the lawyer heading the investigation, Robert Bennett.
That is the same Bennett who rushed to McCain’s defense on numerous TV appearances in the flap in February over a New York Times story alleging the Arizona senator had a cozy relationship with a female lobbyist.
Among the Keating Five, McCain took the most direct contributions from Keating. But McCain has steadfastly maintained that he had not abused his office "to aid any individual improperly." And he has denied under oath that he leaked information.
In the end, the Senate ethics committee ultimately gave McCain, along with Democratic Sen. John Glenn of Ohio, a light reprimand for "poor judgment" for going to two meetings in behalf of Keating with bank regulators but concluded McCain was not substantively involved in trying to pressure them on behalf of Keating.
The ethics committee had sharper criticism for DeConcini and former Democrat Sen. Donald Riegle of Michigan and gave former Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston of California a formal reprimand.
Reach the reporter at bhouse@tampatrib.com or at 1 (202) 662-7673.
But the Democratic National Committee, in a press release that could signal a repetitive theme in coming months, asks when on the tour McCain is going to address his involvement in the “Keating Five” scandal, which became synonymous for the kinds of political influence that money can buy.
McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has been seizing on opportunities such as today’s visit to Jacksonville to reintroduce himself to voters while the Democratic presidential candidates continue to do battle with each other.
Earlier this week McCain visited his old high school in Virginia.
Today’s appearance in Jacksonville will mark the place he was stationed before he left as a young Navy aviator for Vietnam and where he returned after being released as a prisoner of war.
But in its snarky press release, the DNC has noted something else about this week: Yesterday marked the 21st anniversary of McCain's first meeting with bank regulators on behalf of Keating's savings and loan.
“During which part of his biography tour does John McCain plan to address the Keating Five scandal?” the release asks.
There was no immediate response today from the McCain campaign.
Even if McCain doesn’t have any plans to do so, others have done so and certainly will in upcoming months.
In fact, in a book released just last year by one of McCain’s own former Arizona colleagues and fellow “Keating Fiver,” Dennis DeConcini has a lot to say about when he, McCain and three other senators were investigated by the Senate ethics committee in 1991. Democrat DeConcini served as an Arizona senator from 1977 to 1995, and he and McCain have long had strained relations.
That Keating inquiry centered on whether the five pressured federal regulators on behalf of Charles H. Keating Jr., a Phoenix financier, and his Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. Each senator had received campaign donations from Keating.
In Senator “Dennis DeConcini: From the Center of the Aisle,” DeConcini depicts McCain as having stabbed him and the three other senators during the investigation by leaking misleading and damaging information to the media.
DeConcini also asserts that McCain gained leniency from the committee because of a close relationship with the lawyer heading the investigation, Robert Bennett.
That is the same Bennett who rushed to McCain’s defense on numerous TV appearances in the flap in February over a New York Times story alleging the Arizona senator had a cozy relationship with a female lobbyist.
Among the Keating Five, McCain took the most direct contributions from Keating. But McCain has steadfastly maintained that he had not abused his office "to aid any individual improperly." And he has denied under oath that he leaked information.
In the end, the Senate ethics committee ultimately gave McCain, along with Democratic Sen. John Glenn of Ohio, a light reprimand for "poor judgment" for going to two meetings in behalf of Keating with bank regulators but concluded McCain was not substantively involved in trying to pressure them on behalf of Keating.
The ethics committee had sharper criticism for DeConcini and former Democrat Sen. Donald Riegle of Michigan and gave former Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston of California a formal reprimand.
Reach the reporter at bhouse@tampatrib.com or at 1 (202) 662-7673.