McCain, Lobbyists and IGRA

Each time I've blogged about Senator McCain or Governor Palin, I've received comments providing arguments and articles to refute my comments or blaming Bill Clinton for all the current ills of the nation, as if the last 8 years don't count. Some are simply ill-informed potshots. I've chosen to moderate comments and since blogs are not democracies and I'm not required to provide anything resembling 'fair and balanced,' please save your time and mine, or participate in the nemasket discussion forum. Begin a discussion thread and discuss the issues with others in a more appropriate venue. I've watched Senator McCain over the years, listened to his speeches on CSPAN, reviewed his votes and looked at his campaign contributors.

The following is excerpted from a New York Times article worthy of reading in its entirety:

Mr. McCain portrays himself as a Washington maverick unswayed by special interests, referring recently to lobbyists as “birds of prey.” Yet in his current campaign, more than 40 fund-raisers and top advisers have lobbied or worked for an array of gambling interests — including tribal and Las Vegas casinos, lottery companies and online poker purveyors.

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When rules being considered by Congress threatened a California tribe’s planned casino in 2005, Mr. McCain helped spare the tribe. Its lobbyist, who had no prior experience in the gambling industry, had a nearly 20-year friendship with Mr. McCain.

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In Connecticut that year, when a tribe was looking to open the state’s third casino, staff members on the Indian Affairs Committee provided guidance to lobbyists representing those fighting the casino, e-mail messages and interviews show. The proposed casino, which would have cut into the Pequots’ market share, was opposed by Mr. McCain’s colleagues in Connecticut.

...interviews and records show that lobbyists and political operatives in Mr. McCain’s inner circle played a behind-the-scenes role in bringing Mr. Abramoff’s misdeeds to Mr. McCain’s attention — and then cashed in on the resulting investigation. The senator’s longtime chief political strategist, for example, was paid $100,000 over four months as a consultant to one tribe caught up in the inquiry, records show.

Only six members of Congress have received more money from the gambling industry than Mr. McCain, and five hail from the casino hubs of Nevada and New Jersey, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics dating back to 1989.

He also voted twice in the last decade to give casinos tax breaks estimated to cost the government more than $326 million over a dozen years.

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The first tax break benefited the industry in Las Vegas, one of a number of ways Mr. McCain has helped nontribal casinos.