McCain-Palin: Maverick? Reformers? NOT

The following list took me about 20 minutes of searching "the google" on the tubes of the internets. So easy, even a Fox Journalist could do it.

McCain leads in: Bundlers: 850
Mega-Donors: 1025
Lobbyist Bundlers: 76
http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/candidate.cfm?CandidateID=C0005

McCain's Staff:

Campaign manager Rick Davis is a major telecommunications lobbyist.

Senior foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann recently faced scrutiny over his foreign lobbying on behalf of the Republic of Georgia, which has been embroiled in a military conflict with Russia.

Senior adviser Charlie Black was a foreign lobbyist for dictators in Zaire and Angola in the 1980s, fodder for the liberal group MoveOn.org.

Frank Donatelli, the Republican National Committee's liaison to the McCain campaign, has had clients including Exxon Mobil.

Economic adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer has lobbied for corporate giants like Koch Industries.

John Green lobbied for Fannie Mae, the troubled mortgage giant.

National finance Co-chairman Wayne Berman - lobbied for Fannie Mae, the troubled mortgage giant.

Bush Counselor Ed Gillespie Had Lucrative Lobbying Practice Prior To White House Work. Ed Gillespie, one of President Bush's top advisors, founded the lobbying firm Quinn Gillespie & Associates (QGA), a lobbying firm that still bears his name and indirectly uses his influence to win favor with Bush Administration officials

Phil Graham, Economic Adivsor - UBS Lobbyist * officially not part of McCain campaign anymore, unofficially????

Bushies on Board:

Steve Schmidt, Bush’s attack dog in the 2004 election

Mark McKinnon,Bush media strategist

Karl Rove, the president’s top political hand since his Texas days

Dan Bartlett, formerly a top aide in the Bush White House

Ken Mehlman, who ran Bush’s 2004 campaign

Sara Taylor, Bush political adviser

Tucker Eskew - key members of then-Gov. George W. Bush's South Carolina team during the 2000 primaries. Ran the smear campaign against McCain during that primary race. Senior Bush White House communications aide, is serving as senior counselor to Palin’s operation.

Mark Wallace, a former lawyer for the Bush 2000 campaign who served in a variety of administration jobs including chief counsel at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and deputy ambassador to the United Nations, has been put in charge of “prep” for the debate against Biden.

Wallace’s wife, Nicolle Wallace, the former White House communications director, has taken over the same job for Palin.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former chief economist at the Council of Economic Advisers who has been serving as top economics guru for the McCain campaign, has moved over to serve as Palin’s chief domestic-policy adviser.

Matt Scully, a former Bush White House speechwriter who helped draft some of the major foreign-policy addresses during the president’s first term, is working on Palin’s acceptance speech to the convention Wednesday night.

Steve Biegun, who once served as the No. 3 National Security Council official under Condoleezza Rice at the White House,

Matt Scully, a former Bush White House speechwriter who helped draft some of the major foreign-policy addresses during the president’s first term, is working on Palin’s acceptance speech to the convention Wednesday night.

Mark Wallace, a former lawyer for the Bush 2000 campaign who served in a variety of administration jobs including chief counsel at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and deputy ambassador to the United Nations, has been put in charge of “prep” for the debate against Biden.

Wallace’s wife, Nicolle Wallace, the former White House communications director, has taken over the same job for Palin.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former chief economist at the Council of Economic Advisers who has been serving as top economics guru for the McCain campaign, has moved over to serve as Palin’s chief domestic-policy adviser.

other: The Republican nominee drew [b]more donations from executives at oil and gas, real-estate, securities and investment and insurance companies,[/b] the data showed. He raised $22.3 million from the top 25 industries in the two-month period, compared with Sen. Obama's $19.9 million. http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB122083596543108777.html

Senator McCain has recruited at least 127 federal lobbyists to run his presidential campaign and as top campaign fundraisers.

Even After Lobbyists Caused Problems For McCain, He Reached Out To "K" Street. On May 30, 2008, Politico reported, "John McCain's campaign manager and other senior officials met with about 70 top Republican lobbyists yesterday, making the case" for McCain's presidency. The aides dispatched to "K" Street included three lobbyists - Campaign Manager Rick Davis, Deputy Campaign Manager Christian Ferry, and Deputy RNC Chairman Frank Donatelli.

Seven Top McCain Aides And Fundraisers Helped Air Bus Secure Multi-Billion Air Force Contract Over Boeing. At least seven top McCain advisers and fundraisers - Thomas Loeffler, Susan Nelson, John Green, Kirsten Chadwick, Kirk Blalock, Aleix Jarvis and William Ball III - have all lobbied for EADS, the parent company of European airplane manufacturer Air Bus.

At Least 22 Of McCain's Top Aides And Fundraisers Have Lobbied For 8 Of The Top 10 Defense Contractors. At least 22 of McCain's top aides and fundraisers have lobbied for the top ten Defense contractors, including 8 lobbyists for Lockheed Martin, 3 lobbyists for Boeing, 1 lobbyist for Northrop Grumman, 3 lobbyists for Raytheon, 2 lobbyists for General Dynamics, 7 lobbyists for EADS, 1 lobbyist for L-3 Communications, and 5 lobbyists for United Technologies. In total, the top 10 defense contractors have also given at least $216,259 in campaign contributions to McCain. [Senate Lobbying Disclosure Records, accessed 5/22/08; CQ Moneyline, accessed 5/22/08; DefenseNews, accessed 5/22/08]

McCain Has At Least 13 Big Oil Lobbyists Advising Him Or Raising Money For His Campaign. At least 13 of the lobbyists advising McCain or raising money for his campaign have lobbied for big oil. His lobbyists have lobbied for Exxon Mobil, Shell, Sunoco, Amerada Hess, Chevron Texaco, the American Petroleum Institute, Occidental Petroleum, Yukos Oil, the Chinese National Off-Shore Oil Corporation, BP, Chevron, and BP Amoco. [Senate Lobbying Disclosure Records, accessed 5/30/08]

McCain Has At Least 37 Big Pharma Lobbyists Advising Him Or Raising Money For His Campaign. At least 37 of the lobbyists advising McCain or raising money for his campaign have lobbied for big pharma. His lobbyists' clients have included PhRMA, Pfizer, Novartis, Astrazeneca, Wyeth, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi Pasteur, Eli Lilly, Hoffman La-Roche, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. [Senate Lobbying Disclosure Records, accessed 5/30/08]

While Mayor of Wasilla, Palin oversaw the hiring of a lobbyist, Steven Silver -- a former chief of staff to now-indicted GOP senator Ted Stevens -- to help win federal earmarks for the city. Steven Silver also worked for Jack Abramoff.


*sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/09/mccain.lobbying/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Gramm
http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/09/02/bushies-come-to-palin-s-rescue.aspx
http://mccainsource.com/corruption?id=0009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palin-lobbyist-worked-for_n_123255.html