Democratic leaders blast John McCain's ties to Arizona

Phoenix Business Journal ^ | May 9, 2008 | Mike Sunnucks

[mdittmar]

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. (the presumptive Republican presidential nominee), is facing questions about his ties to Arizona real estate developers and home builders.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean and Arizona Democratic Party spokeswoman Emily Bittner pointed Friday to recent stories by 'The New York Times' and the 'Washington Post' on McCain backing land deals involving SunCor Development Co., Del Webb Corp., and developers Donald Diamond and Fred Ruskin. The deals involved parcels and projects in the Phoenix area, Northern Arizona and Nevada.

Republicans dismissed the stories and Democrats' criticism, saying the deals had bipartisan support and were done to benefit the state's growth and economy, not the developers. They also said McCain acted properly in the deals involving Arizona developers. Republican National Committee spokesman Danny Diaz said there was no credibility to the criticism.

McCain has enjoyed support from members of Arizona's real estate and development sector since he was initially elected to Congress, including Charles Keating of savings and loan crisis fame. McCain's current boosters and campaign donors include SunCor CEO Steve Betts, Diamond and a number of other developers and home builders.

[BARLF]

McCain's current boosters and campaign donors include SunCor CEO Steve Betts, Diamond and a number of other developers and home builders.

So, what is wrong with that?

[G Larry]

What do Dean and Bittner have to say about Senator Reid’s really dirty land deal??

[Luke21]

Let's see, we have the deaths of Ron Brown, Vince Foster, Jim MacDougald, hundreds of lesser lights, Chandra Levy, Mary Jo Kopechnie and others at the hands of Democratic monsters, but the shriekenmeister wants to bring up this nonsense?

[BARLF]

Hsu,Hsu

[6SJ7]

I just want to say one word to you - just one word... “Rezko”.

[Redcitizen]

Do Az. I do.

- Bumper sticker.

[denydenydeny]

I can’t imagine they’ll make this a serious campaign issue, not when it invites comparisons with Obama’s relationship with Tony Rezko.

[FFranco]

This shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. There is a lot of dirty stuff that goes on in the Arizona real estate business, examples, Charles Keating, J. Fife Symington, and others.

Hope McCain is clean, or has good excuses.

[eyedigress]

At least Del Webb never said G** D*** America.

[Hugin]

McCain didn't do anything wrong in the Keating 5 case, according to Bob Bennett, who was the consul for the Democrats on the Ethics Committee. He recommended ethics charges only against the four Democrats, but the Dems insisted McCain be included because they wanted it to be a “bipartisan scandal”.

[swatbuznik]

Here it comes! Here it comes! I hope you were ready for the onslaught, McCain, you moron!

[goodnesswins]

Well....goodnesswins blasts Obama’s ties to HAMAS! so there! (Yeah, I know....it won’t matter that Hamas supports Obama, but it will that it’s more important that McCain has friends in Arizona.)

[zeestephen]

Democrats refuse to learn the lesson of “Operation Chaos.”

Don't attack McCain from the Left (he's already center-left).

Just keep provoking Conservatives here at Freepers, and we'll attack McCain for you.

[NoLibZone]

I’ll take a guy with ties to Arizona over the one with ties to Hamas.

[maine-iac7]

hmmm - Someone said last week that this Monday was a crucial day in the Rezco case - like perhaps Rezco was going to cut a deal, which could be bad for obamama -

Maybe there's something to that and the rats are trying to deflect it with this trash