McCain in ethics trouble now too?

[Bradley in DC]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/us/politics/12mccain.html

McCain Call Raises an Ethics Question

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and MICHAEL COOPER
Published: July 12, 2007
WASHINGTON, July 11 — About 3 p.m. Tuesday, Senator John McCain ducked off the Senate floor, entered the Republican cloakroom and took out his mobile phone. Just hours after accepting the resignation of his two top campaign aides, he was making a conference call to his top fund-raisers to urge them to keep up the fight.

The call, however, may only have exacerbated an already tough week for Mr. McCain. Senate ethics rules expressly forbid lawmakers to engage in campaign activities inside Senate facilities. If Mr. McCain solicited campaign contributions on a call from government property, that would be a violation of federal criminal law as well.

EDIT: With just $2 million in the bank, undisclosed debts, a campaign burning cash at a rate of more than $3 million a month and the recent layoffs of more than half its staff, the McCain campaign is reading its obituaries in the comments of some observers.

“It’s effectively over,” said Charlie Cook, the editor of The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter. “The physicians have left the hospital room and it’s the executors of the estate that are taking over.”

[torchbearer]

I bet this story dies and no one presses on it.

[angelatc]

If it does die, it's a bipartisan effort. I seem to recall that Gore was accused of this and it just sort of went away too.

Edited to add - in fact the article mentions that. Guess I should have read it first. :)

[torchbearer]

Rodney Alexander, my opponent in a congressional race in 2006 was tied into the Foley case big time... and they just overlooked the whole ordeal. It is like the protect their own because they are all crooks and they all have dirt on each other and it would be suicide to press any kind of ethics thing against a fellow congressman because everyone up there is breaking ethics rules.

[Bradley in DC]

Rodney Alexander, my opponent in a congressional race in 2006 was tied into the Foley case big time... and they just overlooked the whole ordeal. It is like the protect their own because they are all crooks and they all have dirt on each other and it would be suicide to press any kind of ethics thing against a fellow congressman because everyone up there is breaking ethics rules.

While not lauding his behavior, it does not seem as though Foley broke any laws or violated any ethics rules (skated into the grey as much as possible, but stayed in bounds).

[torchbearer]

Perhaps you didn't get the whole story? The kid was from monroe, la. 16 at the time.... a page for alexander. the 16 year boy was getting unsolicited calls from foley, the boys parents brought this up to alexander to ask him to get foley to stop. alexander did nothing.
If you can't trust your kid with the man, how can you trust him with your vote?

[1000-points-of-fright]

McCain will probably try to get around this by saying the rule was written before cell phones existed so it was really meant to prevent using phone lines that the government pays for. Unless his cell phone is paid by his senate office budget. Then there's no way around this.

[Bradley in DC]

Perhaps you didn't get the whole story? The kid was from monroe, la. 16 at the time.... a page for alexander. the 16 year boy was getting unsolicited calls from foley, the boys parents brought this up to alexander to ask him to get foley to stop. alexander did nothing.
If you can't trust your kid with the man, how can you trust him with your vote?

Again, not lauding his behavior, but he has never been charged with a crime, nor apparently broke any ethics rules (calling former pages isn't covered). He apparently knew the rules well and worked around them.

[Bradley in DC]

McCain will probably try to get around this by saying the rule was written before cell phones existed so it was really meant to prevent using phone lines that the government pays for. Unless his cell phone is paid by his senate office budget. Then there's no way around this.

Not gonna fly. The rules (he helped write) clearly cover cell phones (as was the case with Gore). The issue making fundraising calls (from whatever means) from Federal property. It doesn't matter who paid for the phone.

[FSP-Rebel]

What about that Fl state Rep (McCain guy) that got arrested for trying to blow some cop for $20? Don't they pay state reps enough in Fl? McCain support is an inch deep x inch wide + MSM.

[drinkbleach]

The MSM might actually latch onto this story. This is like 3 scandals in a 2 day period.