Less Lobbying, More Campaigning

Charlie Black, who's been working as a senior advisor to John "Clean Hands" McCain, will be taking a leave of absence from his lobbying to work full-time for the campaign, the better to cash in once McCain's in the White House. I love cred.

Comments

Egads! McCain had a staffer who became a lobbyist and is now a staffer again. This proves McCain is just another corrupt hack like Harry Reid, whose four sons are lobbyists. Sort of like how one of McCain's sons is a Marine veteran of Iraq and the other is in the Naval Academy: the Reid boys and the McCain boys are each serving their country in their own way.

Posted by Fred | March 28, 2008 9:19 AM

Attached is a link to an article detailing Mr. Blacks' ties to Reverend Moon, one of Mr. Freds' heros undoubtedly.

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/26/the-moonies-and-mccains-main-man/#more-20382

Posted by SLC | March 28, 2008 9:47 AM

As long as there is such a huge gap between their power and salaries, former Senators, Representatives, and their staff members will be drawn to careers in lobbying. Why wouldn't they? It's the highest-paying career that they are qualified for.

Posted by Fred | March 28, 2008 10:01 AM

Fred, I don't think Matt's arguing that McCain is somehow unique in this aspect. The thing is, there seems to be a general perception that McCain is somehow unique--uniquely clean and clear of the influence and entanglements of lobbyists. Which is, in fact, utterly and completely false.

Posted by Doug T | March 28, 2008 10:20 AM

I think Fred's arguing that McCain's corruption is upfront and so less corrupt that back alley corruption.

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | March 28, 2008 10:51 AM

So he's pro-choice on lobbying? "If we make lobbying illegal, we'll just end up with dangerous back-alley corruption."

Posted by Doug T | March 28, 2008 11:17 AM

"So he's pro-choice on lobbying? "If we make lobbying illegal, we'll just end up with dangerous back-alley corruption."

Actually, I'm not. I'd rather see lobbying by relatives and staffers of Congressmen banned, and let a Senator like Harry Reid have the opportunity to earn so much money as a Senator that he could buy Dunkin' Donuts franchises or gas stations for his four sons to run.

"The thing is, there seems to be a general perception that McCain is somehow unique--uniquely clean and clear of the influence and entanglements of lobbyists."

I think McCain stand up pretty well to either of the Democratic candidates in this regard.

Posted by Fred | March 28, 2008 11:54 AM

He's resigning, not taking a leave of absense. Time for another one of your non-apology "update" on an anti-McCain post...

Posted by Tabitha | March 28, 2008 2:31 PM

Charlie Black is (finally) taking the stand-up approach of resigning from his WPP/Burson subsidiary post to work on the campaign. It would have been nice if Black's boss at WPP/Burson, Mark Penn, had taken the same approach. Shame on you, Hillary Clinton!

Posted by Thom | March 29, 2008 2:18 PM