NY Times has a long article today examining John McCain's ties to gambling --- and McCain's own love of gambling. Lots of lobbyists made a lot of money lobbying McCain about gambling. Lots of times, McCain showed up at the tables. So, on one level, this is another story about McCain and the coterie of lobbyists who surround him. Jed wrote about McCain and gambling lobbyists back in May.
McCain has really been a great ally to the gaming industry and many of his closest aides have benefited handsomely. But, there's another angle to this issue, which isn't addressed by the NY Times. The evangelicals are fierce opponents of gambling. Yet, here's their guy promoting it in a big way.
These first few paragraphs give a flavor of the piece. It's an in-depth look at another aspect of McCain's tangled ties to lobbyists, which hasn't had much attention:
Senator John McCain was on a roll. In a room reserved for high-stakes gamblers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, he tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table. When the marathon session ended around 2:30 a.m., the Arizona senator and his entourage emerged with thousands of dollars in winnings.So, the NY Times didn't quite back down after all the McCain threats and hissy fits. And, speaking of hissy fits, this quote from Tucker Bounds:
A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.
The visit had been arranged by the lobbyist, Scott Reed, who works for the Mashantucket Pequot, a tribe that has contributed heavily to Mr. McCain’s campaigns and built Foxwoods into the world’s second-largest casino. Joining them was Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s current campaign manager. Their night of good fortune epitomized not just Mr. McCain’s affection for gambling, but also the close relationship he has built with the gambling industry and its lobbyists during his 25-year career in Congress.
As a two-time chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, Mr. McCain has done more than any other member of Congress to shape the laws governing America’s casinos, helping to transform the once-sleepy Indian gambling business into a $26-billion-a-year behemoth with 423 casinos across the country. He has won praise as a champion of economic development and self-governance on reservations.
“One of the founding fathers of Indian gaming” is what Steven Light, a University of North Dakota professor and a leading Indian gambling expert, called Mr. McCain.
As factions of the ferociously competitive gambling industry have vied for an edge, they have found it advantageous to cultivate a relationship with Mr. McCain or hire someone who has one, according to an examination based on more than 70 interviews and thousands of pages of documents.
Mr. McCain portrays himself as a Washington maverick unswayed by special interests, referring recently to lobbyists as “birds of prey.” Yet in his current campaign, more than 40 fund-raisers and top advisers have lobbied or worked for an array of gambling interests — including tribal and Las Vegas casinos, lottery companies and online poker purveyors.
Mr. McCain’s spokesman, Tucker Bounds, would not discuss the senator’s night of gambling at Foxwoods, saying: “Your paper has repeatedly attempted to insinuate impropriety on the part of Senator McCain where none exists — and it reveals that your publication is desperately willing to gamble away what little credibility it still has.”He's a bitchy one, that Tucker (there are a couple of Tuckers on the McCain campaign). But, the point isn't the NY Times gambling. It's McCain's own gambling and the lobbyists who raked in so much money from gambling interests to lobby McCain, who loves gambling.
Funny how this issue didn't come up during the Saddleback forum. But, it should be the talk of the religious right today.
