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September 17, 2005

John McCain Gets Soros Cash

Moonbat.com has revealed a fascinating web of relationships underlying John McCain’s activities.

Senator John McCain’s Reform Institute has suffered some bad press recently due to its involvement in an influence—peddling scandal with Cablevision. As usual, however, mainstream media have failed to go to the root of the matter.

Founded on June 26, 2001, McCain’s Reform Institute for Campaign and Election Issues has long served as a nerve center for the so—called “campaign finance reform”movement — a movement which has done nothing to clean up campaign finance, but has done a great deal to empower federal judges and government bureaucrats to regulate political speech, in defiance of the Bill of Rights.

Now here’s the kicker. The list of donors published on the Reform Institute’s Web site reads like a veritable Who’s Who of radical, leftwing foundations, including the Tides Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Proteus Fund and George Soros’ Open Society Institute. (hat tip, Winfield Myers)

Not surprisingly, in view of the above associations, Arianna Huffington serves on the Reform Institute’s Advisory Board. Huffington has long acted as a front for George Soros’ “campaign finance reform” efforts. In 2000, she organized the so—called Shadow Conventions which provided John McCain with a bully pulpit to stump for his now—infamous McCain—Feingold Act. George Soros shouldered about one third of the cost of the Shadow Conventions

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2005/09/john_mccain_gets_soros_cash.html

McCain Pressed Cable Company’s Case As His Group Collected Its Donations

WASHINGTON - Senator McCain pressed a cable company’s case for pricing changes with regulators at the same time a tax-exempt group that he co-founded solicited $200,000 in contributions from the company.

Help from Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican who argues for ridding politics of big money, included giving the CEO of Cablevision Systems Corp. the opportunity to testify before his Senate committee, writing a letter of support to the Federal Communication Commission, and asking other cable companies to support so-called a la carte pricing.

Cablevision is the nation’s eighth largest cable provider, serving about 3 million customers in the New York area.

The pricing plan is opposed by most of the cable industry. It would let customers pick the channels they want rather than buy fixed-price packages. Supporters, like Mr. McCain and Cablevision, say it would lower prices for consumers, but recent congressional and private studies concluded it could make cable television more expensive.

Mr. McCain’s assistance in 2003 and 2004 was sandwiched around two donations of $100,000 each from Cablevision to The Reform Institute, the tax-exempt group that touts Mr. McCain’s views and has showcased him at events since his unsuccessful 2000 presidential campaign.

The group also pays $110,000 a year to Mr. McCain’s chief political adviser, Rick Davis, who ran the senator’s 2000 presidential campaign. Cablevision’s money accounted for 15% of the institute’s fund-raising in 2003, according to its most recent tax filing.

http://www.nysun.com/article/10198