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THE PAIN OF McCAIN FALLS MAINLY ON...McCAIN March 9, 2005

Chuck Muth

Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, is almost single-handedly responsible for giving this country the most egregious, congressionally-approved infringement on free speech in our nation’s entire history: The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law.  If you listen to "Saint John," the law was intended to get big money out of politics so that special interests could no longer influence policy decisions and votes.

We’ve discussed in the past and at length how bad this misguided law is philosophically, as well as what a mess it made of last year’s elections in its implementation.  We’ve also discussed how the law will soon be infringing on the internet, in addition to traditional media.  And we've also criticized Sen. McCain’s colleagues for going along with and passing this law, as well as President Bush for signing it.

But here’s a new twist.  Sen. McCain himself may be in violation of at least the spirit of, if not the letter of, the McCain-Feingold law.  Here's what it's all about...

There’s an effort in Congress to force cable companies to stop offering cable "packages" and instead offer "a la carte" services.  In essence, this means you could just buy, say, Fox News without getting MTV. Sen. McCain is in favor of a la carte pricing.

There are pros and cons to this issue.  A la carte sounds good at first...until consumers find out that the cost is likely to be MUCH higher than simply buying the whole package.  It’s a complicated issue, but irrelevant to what’s coming next…

Most cable companies are opposed to a la carte pricing.  But one cable giant named Cablevision is an exception.  Now get this:  It turns out that Cablevision gave two $100,000 donations to a tax-exempt organization, The Reform Institute, co-founded by...Sen. John McCain.

An organization, by the way, which pays McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign manager, Rick Davis, $110,000 a year to run.

And not only is John McCain is in favor of a la carte pricing, he has advocated that position to federal regulators...even AFTER the Government Accounting Office (GAO), in response to a request from McCain, said that a la carte pricing would likely lead to higher cable costs for customers.

And according to the Associated Press, Rick Davis went to Cablevision’s chief, Charles Dolan, to request the first $100,000 “donation” just one week after Dolan testified before Sen. McCain’s Commerce Committee on this issue in May 2003.

Coincidence?  Maybe.  Maybe not.

Maybe Sen. McCain isn’t exactly as clean as the driven snow when it comes to big money in politics after all.  Maybe Sen. McCain was influenced by a special interest which gave $200,000 to a McCain-backed organization rather than to the candidate directly.  Maybe Sen. McCain is a world-class hypocrite.

Then again, maybe it’s nothing at all.  Maybe it really is just a coincidence.  Maybe it’s all just "business as usual."  But no matter how you slice it, this matter needs to be investigated.

BRUSHFIRE ALERT:  The Federal Elections Commission is the federal agency charged with investigating potential violations of campaign finance laws.  Please sign our online petition to the FEC’s Inspector General urging her to open an investigation of possible violations of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law surrounding those contributions made by Cablevision to The Reform Institute.

To sign our petition, please go to www.citizenoutreach.com and click on the “Online Petitions” link in the left-hand column.

Additional contact information:

Inspector General Lynne McFarland

999 E Street, NW Room 940

Washington, DC  20463

800-424-9530 (press 0, then ext. 1015)

202-694-1015

202-501-8134 (fax)

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