McCain's Ties to the Gambling Industry

-Allmusic- · 09-28-2008, 06:43 AM

I just read this on the front page of the NYT. It was news to me, but not the Mr. McCain is a flipflopper and says one thing and does another. In this case, giving casinos over $300 Million in tax breaks.

Quote:

A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.

and

Quote:

Mr. McCain portrays himself as a Washington maverick unswayed by special interests, referring recently to lobbyists as “birds of prey.” Yet in his current campaign, more than 40 fund-raisers and top advisers have lobbied or worked for an array of gambling interests — including tribal and Las Vegas casinos, lottery companies and online poker purveyors.

When rules being considered by Congress threatened a California tribe’s planned casino in 2005, Mr. McCain helped spare the tribe. Its lobbyist, who had no prior experience in the gambling industry, had a nearly 20-year friendship with Mr. McCain.

In Connecticut that year, when a tribe was looking to open the state’s third casino, staff members on the Indian Affairs Committee provided guidance to lobbyists representing those fighting the casino, e-mail messages and interviews show. The proposed casino, which would have cut into the Pequots’ market share, was opposed by Mr. McCain’s colleagues in Connecticut.

Mr. McCain declined to be interviewed. In written answers to questions, his campaign staff said he was “justifiably proud” of his record on regulating Indian gambling. “Senator McCain has taken positions on policy issues because he believed they are in the public interest,” the campaign said.

Lots more at

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/us...nted=6&_r=1&hp

edvest1 · 09-28-2008, 03:27 PM

This is shameless political billboard against John McCain. Next you will have McCain having lunch with organized crime bosses.

cartera45 · 09-28-2008, 03:31 PM

If McCain ever had lunch with his father in law, he had lunch with an organized crime boss.

Schmoomcgoo · 09-28-2008, 03:46 PM

This article is a prime example of the fact that McCain is a part of the "old Washington" the nation is clamoring for change from.

While I'm not sure the article implicates McCain himself in doing anything that's actually illegal, it makes it quite clear that the lobbyists he continues to surround himself with and take advice from have their hands deep in the pockets of casino owners and would-be casino owners.

As if the dealings of Jack Abrahamoff were not despicable enough to put him away on their own merits, to think that McCain might never have gone after him at all had it not been for Abrahamoff's client's attempt to encroach on the profits of McCain and Joe Lieberman's favorite casino, is just disgusting.

edvest1 · 09-28-2008, 03:48 PM

If McCain ever sat foot in Miami-Dade, he's there to hold secret meeting with an organized crime boss? If McCain ever sat on a committee on Indian gambling, he was on the take ?

Many liberals are resorting to low-class innuendos and false accusation, just like the title "McCain's tie the gambling industry". One never has to prove anything, like trial lawyers say, you only need to put out garbage in juror's head.

Schmoomcgoo · 09-28-2008, 03:50 PM

I'll give 10:1 odds edvest never read the article at all.

swimcatsmom · 09-28-2008, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Many liberals are resorting to low-class innuendos and false accusation

Learning from the masters at that game then. Got a long ways to go to catch up with Republicans though.

TheresaCPA · 09-28-2008, 06:57 PM

Mc Cains new campaign song and theme....."Take a Chance on Me" by ABBA

barrons · 09-28-2008, 10:22 PM

Gaming has brought income to many tribes that never had much and entertainment to all areas of the country. I'm all for it. In Washington it has taken many tribes from living in shacks to nice homes and healthcare.

Hunt · 09-28-2008, 10:25 PM

In my experience, gambling tends more often to take people in the direction from nice homes to living in shacks. I'm talking about the gamblers, though, and not the casino owners.

samiamy · 09-28-2008, 10:32 PM

Freddie Mac Money Trail Catches Up With McCain | Newsweek Periscope | Newsweek.com

A Freddie Mac Money Trail Catches Up With McCain
By Michael Isikoff and Holly Bailey | NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 27, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Oct 6, 2008

Davis, McCain Aide, Still Officer at Lobbying Firm
Freddie Mac Kept Paying McCain Aide’s Firm

Few advisers in John McCain's inner circle inspire more loyalty from him than campaign manager Rick Davis. McCain and his wife, Cindy, credit the shrewd, and sometimes volatile, Republican insider with rescuing the campaign last year when it was out of money and on the verge of collapse. As a result, McCain has always defended him—even when faced with tough questions about the foreign lobbying clients of Davis's high-powered consulting firm. "Rick is a friend, and I trust him," McCain told NEWSWEEK last year.

barrons · 09-29-2008, 04:48 PM

In my experience most people gamble for fun and limit it to what they can afford. Millions go to LV and Indian casinos every year. I doubt more than a relative handful have a real problem. Most I know are middle/upper middle-class and might risk a couple thousand tops on a LV weekend trip. Others spend that much on football tickets or theater tickets.

mini · 09-29-2008, 05:09 PM

I agree with Barrons. I don't do gambling (religious scruples, among others). We actually have a program for the treatment of problem and pathological gambling. While 7.2% of all adult gamblers develop systems of persistent and recurrent maladaptive gambling behavior, only about a quarter of them (1.9%) are actually problem or pathological gamblers.

Folks in that category experience terrible problems. But, in the scale of things, the relative good that has happened in Native communities because of gambling well outweighs it.

Don't think the state should be in the gambling business, though.

As to McPOW, he just loves those Washington lobbyists, doesn't he?