Now didn't I just say McCain should never have issued those blanket denials. Didn't I?
Broadcaster Lowell "Bud" Paxson today contradicted statements from 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 to the FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson's quest to acquire a Pittsburgh television station.Paxson also recalled that his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 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 today. "The woman was a professional. She was good. She could get us meetings."
A statement issued by the McCain campaign yesterday said 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 statement said.
McCain attorney Robert Bennett played down the contradiction between the campaign's written answer and Paxson's recollection.
"We understood that he [McCain] did not speak directly with him [Paxson]. Now it appears he did speak to him. What is the difference?" Bennett said. "McCain has never denied that Paxson asked for assistance from his office. It doesn't seem relevant whether the request got to him through Paxson or the staff. His letters to the FCC concerning the matter urged the commission to make up its mind. He did not ask the FCC to approve or deny the application. It's not that big a deal."
In most time, in most places, and with most politicians, Bennett might be right. But this is the maverick straight talker we're talking about here. He created this reputation for himself, so the usual standards don't apply.
More:
The issue at hand when Paxson met with McCain in his office in the fall of 1999 was the acquisition of a television station. Paxson had launched a venture by purchasing 60 non-network broadcast television stations across the country, most of them UHF stations that were less desirable than the VHF stations typically favored by networks.
In 1998, Paxson launched a network he dubbed PaxTV, which featured reruns of "Touched by an Angel" and other family-friendly fare. There was a small hole he wanted to fill in his national network: Paxson had no presence in one top-20 market -- Pittsburgh.The transaction called for the Christian broadcaster Cornerstone TeleVision of Wall to take over the noncommercial license of WQEX, the sister station to public broadcaster WQED. Cornerstone would then sell its commercial license to Paxson for $35 million. The money then would be split between Cornerstone and WQED, which was operating in the red.
The proposed station swap was highly contentious in Pittsburgh and involved a multipronged lobbying effort by the parties to the deal. The public opposition caused a long delay at the FCC, and by late 1999, it had been 30 months since the deal was offered for FCC approval. "What you had was the FCC normally taking a year to approve the transfer of stations, but they took two years," Paxson said.
McCain's letters were considered an anomaly for a senator who has become an advocate of ethical boundaries.
McCain wrote the letters in late 1999 urging a vote on the sale to Paxson of the Pittsburgh station. On Nov. 17, McCain sent a letter to FCC Chairman William Kennard saying, "I write today to express my concern about the Commission's continuing failure to act" on the three-station deal involving Paxson.
At the time, McCain had flown on Paxson's corporate jet four times to appear at campaign events and had received $20,000 in campaign donations from Paxson Communications 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. 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.
The second letter was sent to other members of the FCC after McCain had not received a reply from Kennard.
"The sole purpose of this request is to secure final action on a matter that has now been pending over two years," McCain said. "I emphasize that my purpose is not to suggest in any way how you should vote -- merely that you vote."
This letter was crucial because the three-way contract among Paxson and the two other parties was set to expire. Without action by mid-December, the deal could be dead, Paxson said.
McCain wrote that he expected the commissioners "to advise me in writing no later than close of business Tuesday, December 14, 1999."
Mark my words. McCain's blanket denial, followed by his run-and hide approach to this mess, were both enormous mistakes. He should have left everyone focused on the irrelevant allegations of sexual improprieties and left it at that. The Times had nothing there, so that was a battle he was going to win. Instead, he pushed back on everything, making his ties to lobbyists a much bigger story than it would have been otherwise. The Times had essentially buried the more serious allegations under hints of an extra-marital affair. McCain's pushback essentially unburied them, and now there are investigative reporters all over the country digging for dirt. Big mistake, Sen. McCain. Big mistake.
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