 
 John
McCain
Vicki Iseman News.
Corporate Lobbyist Vicki Iseman News
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Vicki
Iseman
VICKI ISEMAN News:
20080223
-
John
McCain
-
 Corporate
-  Politician
-  Government
- Television
-  Media
-  Communications
-  Law
-  Pennsylvania
-  Arizona
-  Florida
-  Jet
- Vicki
Iseman -  History
-  2008
Election - "McCain
Disputed On 1999 Meeting: Broadcaster Recalls Urging
FCC [Federal Communications Commission] Contact." ... "Broadcaster Lowell
"Bud" Paxson yesterday contradicted statements from [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's presidential
campaign that the senator did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist before
sending two controversial letters to the Federal Communications Commission
on Paxson's behalf." ... "Paxson said he talked with McCain in his Washington
office several weeks before the Arizona Republican wrote the letters in
1999 to the FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson's quest to acquire a
Pittsburgh [Pennsylvania] television station." ... "Paxson also recalled
that his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, likely attended the meeting in McCain's
office and that Iseman helped arrange the meeting. "Was Vicki there? Probably,"
Paxson said in an interview with The Washington Post yesterday. "The woman
was a professional. She was good. She could get us meetings."" ... "The
recollection of the now-retired Paxson conflicted with the account provided
by the McCain campaign about the two letters at the center of a controversy
about the senator's ties to Iseman, a partner at the lobbying firm of Alcalde
& Fay." ... "The McCain campaign said Thursday that the senator had
not met with Paxson or Iseman on the matter. "No representative of Paxson
or Alcalde and Fay personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter to
the FCC regarding this proceeding," the campaign said in a statement."
... "But Paxson said yesterday, "I remember going there to meet with him."
He recalled that he told McCain: "You're head of the Commerce Committee.
The FCC is not doing its job. I would love for you to write a letter.""
... "The two letters he wrote to the FCC in 1999 while he was chairman
of the Senate Commerce Committee produced a rash of criticism and a written
rebuke from the then-FCC chairman, who called McCain's intervention "highly
unusual."" ... "On [1999 Novemeber] Nov. 17, McCain sent a letter to FCC
Chairman William E. Kennard saying, "I write today to express my concern
about the Commission's continuing failure to act" on the three-station
deal involving Paxson." ... "McCain had flown on Paxson's corporate jet
four times to appear at [2000 Election] campaign events and had received
$28,000 in campaign donations from Paxson and its law firm." ... "The second
letter came on Dec. 10, a day after the company's jet ferried McCain to
a Florida fundraiser aboard a yacht in West Palm Beach, Fla. [Florida.]
The fundraiser was arranged by Hector Alcalde of Alcalde & Fay and
was hosted by a cruise line that Alcalde had represented, Paxson said.
Paxson said he attended the fundraiser." (1, 2,
3)
-By James V. Grimaldi and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum with
contributions by Alice Crites -WashingtonPost
20080222
-
John
McCain
- Corporate
- Politics
- Television
- Media
- Communications
- Jet
- Vicki
Iseman - Arizona
- Pennsylvania
- Florida
- 2008
Election - "A
Hole in McCain’s Defense? An apparent contradiction
in his response to lobbyist story." ... "A sworn deposition that [2008
Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John
McCain gave in a lawsuit more than five years ago appears to contradict
one part of a sweeping denial that his campaign issued this week to rebut
a New York Times story about his ties to a Washington lobbyist." ... "On
Wednesday night the Times published a story suggesting that McCain might
have done legislative favors for the clients of the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman,
who worked for the firm of Alcalde & Fay. One example it cited were
two letters McCain wrote in late 1999 demanding that the Federal Communications
Commission act on a long-stalled bid by one of Iseman's clients, Florida-based
Paxson Communications, to purchase a Pittsburgh [Pennsylvania] television
station." ... "Just hours after the Times's story was posted, the McCain
campaign issued a point-by-point response that depicted the letters as
routine correspondence handled by his staff—and insisted that McCain had
never even spoken with anybody from Paxson or Alcalde & Fay about the
matter. "No representative of Paxson or Alcalde & Fay personally asked
Senator McCain to send a letter to the FCC [Federal Communications Commission],"
the campaign said in a statement e-mailed to reporters." ... "But that
flat claim seems to be contradicted by an impeccable source: McCain himself.
"I was contacted by Mr. Paxson on this issue," McCain said in the Sept.
25, 2002, deposition obtained by NEWSWEEK. "He wanted their approval very
bad for purposes of his business. I believe that Mr. Paxson had a legitimate
complaint."" ... "While McCain said "I don't recall" if he ever directly
spoke to the firm's lobbyist about the issue [during the 2002 deposition]—an
apparent reference to Iseman, though she is not named—"I'm sure I spoke
to [Paxson]." McCain agreed that his letters on behalf of Paxson, a campaign
contributor, could "possibly be an appearance of corruption"—even though
McCain denied doing anything improper." ... "McCain's subsequent letters
to the FCC—coming around the same time that Paxson's firm was flying the
senator to campaign events aboard its corporate jet and contributing $20,000
to his campaign—first surfaced as an issue during his unsuccessful 2000
presidential bid. William Kennard, the FCC chair at the time, described
the sharply worded letters from McCain, then chairman of the Senate Commerce
Committee, as "highly unusual."" (1, 2)
-By Michael Isikoff -Newsweek
20080221
-
John
McCain
- Vicki
Iseman - Corporate
- Government
- Vacations
- Jets
-
 Real
Estate - Television
Networks - Media
- Communications
- Law
- Politics
- History
- Phoenix
- Arizona
- 2008
Election - "For
McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk."
... "Even as he [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona
Senator John McCain] has vowed to hold himself to the highest ethical standards,
his confidence in his own integrity has sometimes seemed to blind him to
potentially embarrassing conflicts of interest." ... "Mr. McCain promised,
for example, never to fly directly from Washington to Phoenix [Arizona],
his hometown, to avoid the impression of self-interest because he sponsored
a law that opened the route nearly a decade ago. But like other lawmakers,
he often flew on the corporate jets of business executives seeking his
support, including the media moguls Rupert Murdoch, Michael R. Bloomberg
and Lowell W. Paxson, Ms. [lobbyist Vicki] Iseman’s client. (Last year
he voted to end the practice.)" ... "Mr. McCain helped found a nonprofit
group to promote his personal battle for tighter campaign finance rules.
But he later resigned as its chairman after news reports disclosed that
the group was tapping the same kinds of unlimited corporate contributions
he opposed, including those from companies seeking his favor. He has criticized
the cozy ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, but is relying on corporate
lobbyists to donate their time running his presidential race and recently
hired a lobbyist to run his Senate office. " ... "During Mr. McCain’s four
years in the House [of Representatives], Mr. [Charles] Keating, his family
and his business associates contributed heavily to his political campaigns.
The banker gave Mr. McCain free rides on his private jet, a violation of
Congressional ethics rules (he later said it was an oversight and paid
for the trips). They vacationed together in the Bahamas. And in 1986, the
year Mr. McCain was elected to the Senate, his wife joined Mr. Keating
in investing in an Arizona shopping mall." ... "Mr. Keating had taken over
the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association and used its federally insured
deposits to gamble on risky real estate and other investments. He pressed
Mr. McCain and other lawmakers to help hold back federal banking regulators."
... "For years, Mr. McCain complied. At Mr. Keating’s request, he wrote
several letters to regulators, introduced legislation and helped secure
the nomination of a Keating associate to a banking regulatory board." ...
"By early 1987, though, the thrift was careering toward disaster. Mr. McCain
agreed to join several senators, eventually known as the Keating Five,
for two private meetings with regulators to urge them to ease up." ...
"When Lincoln went bankrupt in 1989 — one of the biggest collapses of the
savings and loan crisis, costing taxpayers $3.4 billion — the Keating Five
became infamous. The scandal sent Mr. Keating to prison and ended the careers
of three senators, who were censured in 1991 for intervening. Mr. McCain,
who had been a less aggressive advocate for Mr. Keating than the others,
was reprimanded only for “poor judgment” and was re-elected the next year.
" ... "A champion of deregulation, Mr. McCain wrote letters in 1998 and
1999 to the Federal Communications Commission urging it to uphold marketing
agreements allowing a television company to control two stations in the
same city, a crucial issue for Glencairn Ltd. [Limited], one of Ms. Iseman’s
clients. He introduced a bill to create tax incentives for minority ownership
of stations; Ms. Iseman represented several businesses seeking such a program.
And he twice tried to advance legislation that would permit a company to
control television stations in overlapping markets, an important issue
for Paxson." ... "In late 1999, Ms. Iseman asked Mr. McCain’s staff to
send a letter to the commission to help Paxson, now Ion Media Networks,
on another matter. Mr. Paxson was impatient for F.C.C. approval of a television
deal, and Ms. Iseman acknowledged in an e-mail message to The Times that
she had sent to Mr. McCain’s staff information for drafting a letter urging
a swift decision." ... "Mr. McCain complied. He sent two letters to the
commission, drawing a rare rebuke for interference from its chairman."
(1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Jim
Rutenberg, Marilyn W. Thompson, David
D. Kirkpatrick and Stephen
Labaton with contributions by Barclay Walsh and Kitty Bennett
-NYTimes
-
John
McCain
- Vicki
Iseman - Corporate
- Government
- Television
Stations - Media
- Communications
- Law
- Politics
- Jet
- Travel
- History
- Arizona
- Florida
- Pennsylvania
- 2008
Election - "McCain:
Reports on lobbyist a "smear"." ... "The story alleges
that McCain wrote letters and pushed legislation involving television station
ownership that would have benefited [lobbyist Vicki] Iseman's clients."
... "In late 1999, [Arizona Republican Senator and 2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate John] McCain twice wrote letters to the Federal
Communications Commission on behalf of Florida-based Paxson Communications
- which had paid Iseman as its lobbyist - urging quick consideration of
a proposal to buy a television station license in Pittsburgh [Pennsylvania].
At the time, Paxson's chief executive, Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson, also was
a major contributor to McCain's 2000 presidential campaign." ... "McCain
did not urge the FCC commissioners to approve the proposal, but he asked
for speedy consideration of the deal, which was pending from two years
earlier. In an unusual response, then-FCC Chairman William Kennard complained
that McCain's request "comes at a sensitive time in the deliberative process"
and "could have procedural and substantive impacts on the commission's
deliberations and, thus, on the due process rights of the parties."" ...
"McCain wrote the letters after he received more than $20,000 in contributions
from Paxson executives and lobbyists. Paxson also lent McCain his company's
jet at least four times during 1999 for campaign travel." -By
Libby Quaid -AP
via -Star-Telegram.com
-
John
McCain
- Vicki
Iseman - Corporate
- Telecommunications
- Broadcasting
- Media
- History
- Arizona
-
 Virginia
- 2008
Election - "McCain's
Ties To Lobbyist Worried Aides: Before 2000 Campaign,
Advisers Tried to Bar Her." ... "Aides to [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain confronted a telecommunications
lobbyist in late 1999 and asked her to distance herself from the senator
during the presidential campaign he was about to launch, according to one
of McCain's longest-serving political strategists." ... "John Weaver, who
was McCain's closest confidant until leaving his current campaign last
year, said he met with Vicki Iseman at the Center Cafe at Union Station
and urged her to stay away from McCain. Association with a lobbyist would
undermine his image as an opponent of special interests, aides had concluded."
... "Members of the senator's small circle of advisers also confronted
McCain directly, according to sources, warning him that his continued ties
to a lobbyist who had business before the powerful commerce committee he
chaired threatened to derail his presidential ambitions." ... "Iseman,
40, who joined the Arlington[Virginia]-based firm of Alcalde & Fay
as a secretary and rose to partner within a few years, often touted her
access to the chairman of the Senate commerce committee as she worked on
behalf of clients such as Cablevision, EchoStar and Tribune Broadcasting,
according to several other lobbyists who spoke on the condition of anonymity."
... "Three telecom lobbyists and a former McCain aide, all of whom spoke
on the condition of anonymity, said that Iseman spoke up regularly at meetings
of telecom lobbyists in Washington, extolling her connections to McCain
and his office. She would regularly volunteer at those meetings to be the
point person for the telecom industry in dealing with McCain's office."
... "Iseman clients have given nearly $85,000 to McCain campaigns since
2000, according to records at the Federal Election Commission." -By
Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Michael D Shear with contributions by James V.
Grimaldi and Alice Crites -WashingtonPost
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