John McCain & The Ghost of Keating Five

From the Nation.com
Back in the 1980s, when the US faced a major savings & loan crisis, John McCain intervened to protect S&L magnate Charles Keating--a major McCain donor and friend--from federal regulators. McCain was later rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for "poor judgement" and embarrassed by the $112,000 in campaign contributions, trips and gifts he accepted from Keating. Following the entanglement, McCain became a born-again reformer and tried to scrub the Keating episode from his resume.

But the ghost of Keating Five lives on. Sherrod Brown, one of the smartest populists in the Senate, says McCain's behavior during that period still illuminates the character of the so-called maverick today.

Here's what Brown told Sam Stein of the Huffington Post today:


"It is not so much his economic proposals but his economic record," Brown said of McCain. "His main adviser is Phil Gramm -- he was his mentor in the Senate -- and you just tie it all together. Of course John McCain supported the oil industry, he has oil lobbyists working for him. Of course John McCain supported these trade agreements, he has got Wall Street people working for him... It is all wrapped up together. John McCain is a creature of these interest groups in Washington. He is no maverick and, from the Keating Five on, his ethics have been questionable. He's not a maverick and Barack has got to just keep hammering on that."

Stein points out that Obama referenced the S&L crisis in a speech today.


"Instead of sensible reform that rewarded success and freed the creative forces of the market, too often we've excused an ethic of greed, corner-cutting and inside dealing that threatens the long-term stability of our economic system," he said. "It happened in the 1980s, when we loosened restrictions on Savings and Loans and appointed regulators who ignored even these weaker rules. Too many S&Ls took advantage of the lax rules set by Washington to gamble that they could make big money in speculative real estate."

Yet Obama missed an opportunity to remind voters of McCain's ties to Keating, and the Arizona Senator's response the last time taxpayers faced an economic crisis caused by crooked deregulation.

Back in May, Obama said the scandal was still fair game. "I was just asked previously about a whole host of issues and associations that are a lot more flimsy than John McCain's relationship to Keating Five," Obama told reporters. "What I said, I can't quarrel with the American people wanting to know more about that and me having to answer questions about it."

What better time than now?