High-Ranking McCain Campaign Officials Were Paid Lobbyists For Hess

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Okay, here's some more on the ties between the McCain campaign and the Hess Corporation, the company whose senior executives all dumped $28,500 apiece into the RNC-McCain fundraising committee at around the same time as McCain reversed his previous opposition to offshore drilling. It turns out that two high-ranking McCain campaign officials, one of whom is also one of McCain's more prolific bundlers, were both were paid lobbyists for Hess for roughly three years, according to disclosure forms.

The two lobbyists are Wayne Berman, McCain's national finance co-chairman, and John Green, who's been the McCain campaign's chief Congressional liaison since March. Both men worked for a firm called Ogilvy Government Relations. The firm has been paid $800,000 by Hess from 2005 up to the present, including $720,000 during the period that both of the two lobbied for the company, the forms say.

Berman, a prolific fundraiser and bundler for McCain, appears to still be lobbying for Hess. The most recently filed form shows that he was lobbying for the company as late as mid-July. Green took a leave of absence from Ogilvy to join the campaign, but was still on the Hess account up through the first quarter of 2008, the forms show.

There's no suggestion of any wrongdoing here. And it's unclear precisely how the two lobbyists' work is linked to the recent Hess fundraising for McCain, or even whether there's any connection at all.

But their role is newly relevant in light of the recent scrutiny of Hess' bundling for McCain, suggesting more big-money ties between the McCain campaign and the company. And the lobbying raises fair questions, according to one campaign finance watchdog.

"That John McCain's campaign also has Hess lobbyists as two of its top advisers raises additional questions about how McCain and the RNC came to raise $300,000 from Hess employees, including the controversial contribution reported earlier this week," said David Donnelly of Campaign Money Watch.

"Hess oil would stand to make a killing from offshore drilling," Donnelly continued. "Berman and Green were their lobbyists. Did they play any role in lining up these contributions?"

In mid-2005, disclosure forms show, Ogilvy (at the time known as the Federalist Group) began lobbying for Hess on energy issues, a relationship that the forms show has continued to the present. Berman and Green, though they aren't the only two at Ogilvy who worked for Hess, lobbied for the company throughout, the forms say.

None of the parties involved returned our calls.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmem...e_also_doub.php

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

"Hess oil would stand to make a killing from offshore drilling," Donnelly continued. "Berman and Green were their lobbyists. Did they play any role in lining up these contributions?"

Of course not. That's just silly

[one...two...tree 2,762]

"Hess oil would stand to make a killing from offshore drilling," Donnelly continued. "Berman and Green were their lobbyists. Did they play any role in lining up these contributions?"

Of course not. That's just silly

Money does funny things to people...

But how recent a convert is McCain to this position?

In late May, during a campaign town hall, McCain was asked about the prospect of coastal drilling. His answer then was far more nebulous and skeptical of the idea compared to his recent, full-throated endorsement.

On a campaign stop in Greensdale, Wisconsin, the Senator suggested that turning to the nation's coast for energy needs would be something of a waste in time and effort and do little to resolve America's broader energy needs.

"[W]ith those resources, which would take years to develop, you would only postpone or temporarily relieve our dependency on fossil fuels," McCain said when asked about offshore drilling. "We are going to have to go to alternative energy, and the exploitation of existing reserves of oil, natural gas, even coal, and we can develop clean coal technology, are all great things. But we also have to devote our efforts, in my view, to alternative energy sources, which is the ultimate answer to our long-term energy needs, and we need it sooner rather than later."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/18/m...g_n_107872.html

[Nagishkaw 510]

I thought this was about Rudolph Hess.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I thought this was about Rudolph Hess.

...following the money trail.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Sorry, I got a lot on my mind these days.

[IAMX 3,055]

I thought this was about Rudolph Hess.

Something like that.