McCain’s Shady Finances

This is about to get real wonky real quick, so let me try to explain this situation as best as I understand it. (I’m taking most of my analysis from TAPPED and NPR)

According to campaign finance laws which McCain helped to implement and I don’t really understand, candidates can elect to receive public funds matching for campaign expenses which are tied to certain rules regulating how the candidate can spend the money and requiring the candidate to report various aspects of campaign finance.

Most candidates don’t want to accept public funds matching because that would limit how much they can spend from the time they accept the funds all the way up until the general election, but when McCain’s campaign fell on hard times leading up to the primary season they had to do something.

In a technically legal but rather morally ambiguous move (especially coming from the champion of finance reform) John McCain took out a loan from a bank against future federal matching funds. To clarify, McCain took out a loan today saying that if he didn’t win the nomination he wouldn’t drop out of the race until he had applied for enough matching funds to cover the loans

The Author at TAPPED sums up the implications of this loan.

“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say this is a promise to perpetuate a fraud on the American taxpayers: if he no longer intended to seek the presidency, he made a legally-binding promise to pretend to remain in the race just long enough to collect public money to repay the loan. “

The ethical implications of this move really make me rethink my views on Mr. McCain. Up until this week, with the exception of McCain-Feingold (which ironically caused this mess), I was a big fan of McCain. He did seem like a straight-talker, at the very least he seemed committed to doing what he thinks is right. But the scandals which have come to light this week are blowing holes in my support for a candidate with whom I disagree on several distinct policy issues.

Unfortunately, due to the rather complex nature of this loan problem, very few people will realize that John McCain might not be the honest boyscout he builds himself up to be.

Money Money Money

I can’t remember where I stole this link from, but the Washington Post has an article discussing the value of earmarks obtained by the three major presidential candidates.

John McCain comes in first place with zero earmarks. However the scandal-in-the-making with that pretty blond lobbyist has a distinct probability of derailing the straight talk express.

“Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the likely GOP presidential nominee, was one of five senators to reject earmarks entirely, part of his long-standing view that such measures prompt needless spending.”

On the Democratic side of things, Barack Obama wins hands down:

“Working with her New York colleagues in nearly every case, Clinton supported almost four times as much spending on earmarked projects as her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), whose $91 million total placed him in the bottom quarter of senators who seek earmarks, the study showed.”

…

“As a campaign issue, earmarks highlight significant differences in the spending philosophies of the top three candidates. Clinton has repeatedly supported earmarks as a way to bring home money for projects, while Obama adheres to a policy of using them only to support public entities.”

A McCain v Obama race looks really good for a lot of reasons. Reigning in congressional money-wasting (See: Hillary’s Woodstock museum) is just one of them.