Is it possible that it tells more about the legislators with whom McCain has worked, prompting him to believe that something must be done to curtail the influence peddling in Washington?Point taken.
I have always believed that with his version of CFR, McCain was selfishly trying to atone for his 'Keating Five' involvement - - assuage his guilty conscience or something... Anyway, what McCain succeeded in enacting was a frontal assault on the Constitution (regardless of a reckless 5 - 4 Supreme Court ruling) and the law is little more than an "incumbent protection" law.
The proper CFR would have been a carefully crafted transparency law.
I think what you said in the first paragraph is probably true... And I agree with your final assertion also. (Hey, re: McCain's "guilty conscience" over Keating 5 - at least that means he has a conscience - which is more than we can say about some politicians!) Merry Christmas!