Scandals, McCain/Palin

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http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS198552+11-Jan-2008+PRN20080111 http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS198552+11-Jan-2008+PRN20080111
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 +==Founding Member of the Keating Five==
 +
 +Back in the old days, defendants in famous trials got numbers -- the Chicago Eight, the Gang of Four, the Dave Clark Five, the Daytona 500. McCain was one of the "Keating Five," congressmen investigated on ethics charges for strenuously helping convicted racketeer Charles Keating after he gave them large campaign contributions and vacation trips.
 +Charles Keating was convicted of racketeering and fraud in both state and federal court after his Lincoln Savings & Loan collapsed, costing the taxpayers $3.4 billion. His convictions were overturned on technicalities; for example, the federal conviction was overturned because jurors had heard about his state conviction, and his state charges because Judge Lance Ito (yes, that judge) screwed up jury instructions. Neither court cleared him, and he faces new trials in both courts.)
 +
 +Though he was not convicted of anything, McCain intervened on behalf of Charles Keating after Keating gave McCain at least $112,00 in contributions. In the mid-1980s, McCain made at least 9 trips on Keating's airplanes, and 3 of those were to Keating's luxurious retreat in the Bahamas. McCain's wife and father-in-law also were the largest investors (at $350,000) in a Keating shopping center; the Phoenix New Times called it a "sweetheart deal."
 +
 +http://www.realchange.org/mccain.htm#religion
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Revision as of 00:42, 6 October 2008


Contents

Married to the Mob

Gee, the more you learn of McCain, the more interesting he becomes. Like the fact that his wife's father, Jim Hensley, made his money courtesy of the Az mob, and that McCain's campaign was funded by the mob. What a tangled web we weave in this election - the first half-black candidate against the first mob candidate.

"Hensley still went to prison, but took the fall when the rest of the company was cleared. According to an article in American Mafia.com, Marley rewarded Hensley for his loyalty to the organization:

When Hensley strolled out of the joint, Marley bought his silence with a lucrative Phoenix-based Budweiser beer distributorship.

That distributorship and the rest of Marley's empire did very well over the decades for both Hensley and Marley, making both men multi-millionaires."

"On June 2, 1976, (Az Republic reporter) Bolles climbed into his car and was blown apart by a bomb under the driver's seat. Pieces of his body were strewn around the parking lot."

"[McCain] retired from the military in 1980, divorced his first wife, wed Arizona native Cindy Lou Hensley and moved here to plunge into the world of politics. His first job in Arizona was as a public affairs agent for Hensley & Company, one of the nation's largest beer distributors. He was paid $50,000 in 1982 to travel the state, touting the company's wares. But he was promoting himself as much as he was Budweiser beer. A better job description might have been "candidate."

Then in 1982, McCain ran for Congress. That takes some quick money, and McCain had access to it-- thanks to his father in law (whose employees at his liquor distributorship were 'persuaded' to donate thousands of dollars to McCain), and one of Hensley's friends, Charles Keating of the Lincoln S&L (I won't get into the Lincoln S&L scandal here because it is pretty well known by now that McCain was one of the 'Keating Five.') To seal the deal, Jim Hensley and Cindy Hensley McCain invested $359,100 in one of Keating's projects.

It has been said that the Mafia never really left, they have just moved upscale. "

http://tiodt.blogspot.com/2006/12/married-to-mob.html, http://www.city-data.com/forum/2008-presidential-election/383865-john-mccain-married-mob.html

Don Bolles

That distributorship and the rest of Marley's empire did very well over the decades for both Hensley and Marley, making both men multi-millionaires.

In fact, Marley was interested in more than just liquor. In 1976, then Gov. Raul Castro, a Democrat, appointed Marley, then a billionaire and the state's richest man, to the state racing commission.

And that's when one of those pesky investigative reporters got in the way. The reporter's name was Don Bolles and he worked for the Arizona Republic. Bolles discovered a land fraud ring and other crimes that appeared to lead to Sen. Barry Goldwater and other movers and shakers in Arizona. And he discovered that Kemper Marley, newly appointed to the State Board Racing Commission, had connections to the Mafia. In fact, Marley was a close associate of Peter Licavoli, the mob boss for Arizona. Marley had also served as Chairman of the Board for Valley National Bank, which helped bankroll Bugsy Siegel's construction of the Flamingo in Las Vegas. Digging into Marley's past also uncovered his earlier work for Gus Greenbaum. The revelations forced Marley to resign from the commission.

And Kemper Marley and his associates in the Mafia weren't people whose business you interfered with lightly.

On June 2, 1976, Bolles climbed into his car and was blown apart by a bomb under the driver's seat. Pieces of his body were strewn around the parking lot. Bolles amazingly survived for eleven days and said to investgators on the scene, "They finally got me. The Mafia. Emprise. Find John (Harvey) Adamson."

Adamson was later convicted of the murder. But who hired him? That trail was never really followed up on, according to members of the Arizona Project, a group of reporters who began looking into mob ties after the murder.

http://tiodt.blogspot.com/2006/12/married-to-mob.html, http://web.archive.org/web/20001120112000/home.stlnet.com/~cdstelzer/bolles.html

Jack Abramoff, John McCain

On Jack Abramoff, John McCain Drives Straight Talk Express Into Double Talk Detour

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Maybe it was the strain of doing three debates in five days, or the pressure of facing a second must-win primary in a week, but last night John McCain took his "do anything to win" campaign mentality to a new low. During last night's debate in South Carolina, McCain tried to position himself as an agent of change by bragging about Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff being in prison and claiming that "he will tell you, and his lobbyist cronies, of the change I made" in Washington. [Fox News Debate, 1/10/08]

¶But John McCain isn't kidding anyone. Not only did he flat out refuse to investigate any of his fellow members of Congress when his Senate committee investigated Abramoff, he refused to back the kind of lobbying reform that could prevent future lobbying scandals -- choosing instead to advance his presidential campaign by cozying up to K Street lobbyists. McCain even chose a top crony of indicted former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay as his first campaign manager.

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS198552+11-Jan-2008+PRN20080111

Delay TRMPAC Money Laundering Scheme

MCCAIN'S FIRST CAMPAIGN MANAGER A TOP TOM DELAY CRONY

McCain Named Terry Nelson Campaign Manager Said He Had No Qualms about Nelson's Ethics. Senator McCain named Terry Nelson as his campaign manager in 2006. Nelson is "known for hardball tactics that don't exactly square with [McCain's] white-knight image," such as the racist ad aired against Ford Jr., involvement in the Delay indictment and the New Hampshire phone jamming scandal; Dick Polman noted that "in view of [Nelson's] hardball track record, his presence at McCain's side is sufficient proof that the 'maverick' label no longer applies." In 2006, it was reported that McCain still "had no qualms about Nelson's ethics," even after they were revealed to him. In fact, McCain called Nelson "a fine man" and defended hiring him, saying, "he was very helpful to President Bush and he is very well regarded." [Time, 12/10/06; "Dick Polman's American Debate," dickpolman.blogspot.com, 12/7/06; Union Leader, 12/8/06; Cox News Service, 4/3/06]

McCain Strategist Terry Nelson Served As Middleman in Delay TRMPAC Money Laundering Scheme, Named in Indictment and Had to Testify. Before the 2002 election, John Colyandro, the executive director of Texans for a Republican Majority, sent a blank check to Jim Ellis. According to the indictment, Ellis, who ran Delay's Americans for a Republican Majority, negotiated an exchange of corporate money for campaign donations with Terry Nelson, RNC Political Director. As a result, TRMPAC contributed $190,000 to the Republican National State Elections Committee on September 20, 2002 -- a contribution that included corporate money. Within two weeks, the RNSEC contributed the same amount back to seven Texas legislative candidates that were TRMPAC targets. Nelson testified to the grand jury investigating the Delay scandal in March of 2004. [Austin American-Statesman, 9/14/05; Travis County District Court Bill of Indictment, Thomas Dale DeLay, 9/28/05; CQ Weekly, 3/20/2004; San Antonio Express-News, 3/15/2004; Austin American-Statesman, 2/26/2004; FEC,4/8/2004; Texas Ethics Commission, 4/8/2004; AP, 3/20/04; Houston Chronicle, 10/15/05]

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS198552+11-Jan-2008+PRN20080111

Founding Member of the Keating Five

Back in the old days, defendants in famous trials got numbers -- the Chicago Eight, the Gang of Four, the Dave Clark Five, the Daytona 500. McCain was one of the "Keating Five," congressmen investigated on ethics charges for strenuously helping convicted racketeer Charles Keating after he gave them large campaign contributions and vacation trips. Charles Keating was convicted of racketeering and fraud in both state and federal court after his Lincoln Savings & Loan collapsed, costing the taxpayers $3.4 billion. His convictions were overturned on technicalities; for example, the federal conviction was overturned because jurors had heard about his state conviction, and his state charges because Judge Lance Ito (yes, that judge) screwed up jury instructions. Neither court cleared him, and he faces new trials in both courts.)

Though he was not convicted of anything, McCain intervened on behalf of Charles Keating after Keating gave McCain at least $112,00 in contributions. In the mid-1980s, McCain made at least 9 trips on Keating's airplanes, and 3 of those were to Keating's luxurious retreat in the Bahamas. McCain's wife and father-in-law also were the largest investors (at $350,000) in a Keating shopping center; the Phoenix New Times called it a "sweetheart deal."

http://www.realchange.org/mccain.htm#religion