Ask Not What She Did for Him, Ask What He Did for Her

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff02222008.html

February 22, 2008

Ask Not What She Did for Him, Ask What He Did for Her
Vicki's John
By DAVE LINDORFF

All the attention in the breaking story about John McCain's 2000 relationship with the 32-year old telecom lobbyist has been focused on the question of whether or not they were "doing it."

But really, who cares whether they were shacking up on the campaign trail? McCain, after all, already double-timed his starter wife and dumped her for a trophy wife, the statuesque and wealthy beer industry heiress Cindy Hensley, so it's not as though he is campaigning on a strong pro-family platform.

No, the reason his aides, back in 1998-2000, started working behind the scenes to keep Iseman away from McCain, and confronted McCain over the relationship was because McCain, who had a history of corruption, most notably his card-carrying membership in the Keating Five savings and loan scandal, couldn't afford to appear to be backsliding.

The question is what he was delivering for her and her clients.

The Times' article reports that McCain wrote letters in 1998 and 1999 to the Federal Communications Commission urging it to uphold marketing agreements that would allow TV companies like Glencairn Ltd., an Iseman client, to control two stations in the same city. The paper says the senator also introduced a measure in the Senate that would create tax incentives for minority ownership of stations, a measure sought by Iseman on behalf of several media clients. McCain also on two occasions reportedly pushed legislation that would permit a company to control television stations in overlapping markets. That was a measure being sought by Paxson (now Ion Media Networks), yet another Iseman client.