[Rhodes22-list] POLITICAL - analysis of Jay B.'s post, Peter L.'s comment

[Tootle]

Jay B., Peter L., Herb, and all...

“I remember that scandal well. McCain was involved up to his neck.  McCain
is no better than Keating ...he should have gone to jail also.  He just got
away with it ... again, our legal system at work.”  Jay B.

“McCain helped destroy thousands of people’s finances during the S&L crisis
and we paid.” Peter L.

"McCain later explained that he thought it was the right thing to do,
because Keating was a constituent.

“One of our jobs as elected officials is to help constituents in a proper
fashion,'' McCain said. ''ACC (American Continental Corp.) is a big employer
and important to the local economy. I wouldn't want any special favors for
them. . . .   ''I don't want any part of our conversation to be improper.'' 
William Black, deputy director of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance
Corp.

''To be blunt, you should charge them or get off their backs,'' John Glenn
told the regulators. ''If things are bad there, get to them. Their view is
that they took a failing business and put it back on its feet. It's now
viable and profitable.”  John Glenn

Then Patriarca made a stunning comment, according to transcripts released
later. ''We're sending a criminal referral to the Department of Justice,''
he said. ''Not maybe, we're sending one. This is an extraordinarily serious
matter. It involves a whole range of imprudent actions. I can't tell you
strongly enough how serious this is. This is not a profitable institution.''

 ''The criminality surprises me,'' Senator DeConcini said. ''We're not
interested in discussing those issues. Our premise was that we had a viable
institution concerned that it was being overregulated.''  “The statement
made DeConcini back off.”

''Again, I was troubled by the appearance of the meeting,'' McCain said
later. ''I stated I didn't want any special favors from them. I only wanted
them (Lincoln Savings) to be fairly treated.''

The Arizona Republic, a Phoenix newspaper said, “But McCain made a critical
error.  In spinning his side of the Keating story, McCain adopted the
blanket defense that Keating was a constituent and that he had every right
to ask his senators for help. In attending the meetings, McCain said, he
simply wanted to make sure that Keating was treated like any other
constituent.”

Jay said, “He took campaign contributions to keep regulators off Keating’s
back.”  No evidence of the judgment made.  It cost a lot for political
campaigns.  The only question should be was contribution legal?

''The appearance of it was wrong,'' McCain said recently. ''It's a wrong
appearance when a group of senators appear in a meeting with a group of
regulators, because it conveys the impression of undue and improper
influence. And it was the wrong thing to do.''  John McCain

Conclusion:  If a business has government issues, it is entitled to
assistance in dealing with those issues from appropriate legislators.  It is
possible that the regulations or interpretation of those regulations is
wrong.  Until the criminal charges were announced, the legislators, and that
means all of them were just doing their jobs.  In all this it should be
noted in capital letters that they backed off after they were told of
impending criminal charges. 

Peter L. should note that once McCain was appraised the conduct involved was
wrong, i.e., criminal, he backed off and walked away.  Obama still does not
back off his relationship with a Terrorist.  That is an important
difference.



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