Telecom lobbyists tied to McCain

Sen John McCain (R-AZ) has condemned the influence of "special interest lobbyists," yet dozens of lobbyists have political and financial ties to his presidential campaign -- particularly from telecommunications companies, an industry he helps oversee in the Senate. Of the 66 current or former lobbyists working for the Arizona senator or raising money for his presidential campaign, 23 have lobbied for telecommunications companies in the past decade, Senate lobbying disclosures show. Sen McCain has netted about $765,000 in political donations from those telecom lobbyists, their spouses, colleagues at their firms and their telecom clients during the past decade, a USA TODAY analysis of campaign-finance records shows. Sen McCain is a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the telecom industry and the Federal Communications Commission. He has repeatedly pushed industry-backed legislation since 2000, particularly during a second stint as committee chairman from 2003 through 2005. His efforts to eliminate taxes and regulations on telecommunications services won him praise from industry executives. People who lobbied for telecom companies on those issues include McCain's campaign manager, his deputy manager, his finance chief, his top unpaid political adviser and his Senate chief of staff. Telecom companies have paid the lobbying firms that employed those top five McCain advisers more than $4.4 million since 1999, lobbying records show.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080324/1a_bottomstrip24_dom....
* A look at GOP senator's telecom ties
People who work, advise or raise campaign money for Sen John McCain who have lobbied for telecommunications companies since 1999.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080324/a_mccain_lobbylist24....
* McCain pushed tax ban backed by telecoms
In the fall of 2003, telecommunications companies lobbied for a bill that would ban state and local taxes on Internet access, and they had support in high places. Sen. John McCain, who at the time was chairman of the committee overseeing telecommunications issues, helped write the bill that would outlaw those taxes. McCain's committee sent its version of the bill to the full Senate on Sept. 29, 2003. Four days earlier, AT&T Wireless executives gave McCain's 2004 Senate re-election campaign $10,500, according to campaign-finance records. AT&T Wireless, which offers Internet connections like other telecom companies, says in its 2003 disclosure report to the Senate that it lobbied on the bill.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080324/a_mccaininside24.art.htm