McCain and his lobbyists: The Cablevision connection

Perhaps overshadowed by other developments on the campaign trail is the story about top John McCain advisors who have made a living lobbying for some rather dubious foreign regimes. The controversy has led McCain to issue a conflict of interest policy, and has led to the departure of five lobbyists from his campaign. McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was a part-time president of the Reform Institute, a Washington group Sen McCain (R-AZ) helped found to champion ideals like reducing 'the influence of special interests' in politics and government." McCain's lobbyist-led "Reform Institute" was soliciting money from telecommunications companies subject to the jurisdiction of the Senate Commerce Committee, which he headed. And Cablevision gave two $100,000 donations to the "Reform Institute" at the same time it was getting McCain's help pushing a cable-pricing plan before the FCC that critics said would hurt consumers. Help from McCain, who argues for ridding politics of big money, included giving the chief executive of Cablevision the opportunity to testify before his Senate committee, writing a letter of support to the Federal Communications Commission, and asking other cable companies to support so-called a la carte pricing.
http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/blog/2008/05/m...