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After top campaign aides resigned over unsavory lobbying activities, Republican presidential candidate John McCain [10] "adopted a five-point policy ... to help restore his reputation as a Washington reformer," reports the Wall Street Journal [11]. The policy bans working for groups critical of his likely opponent, Barack Obama [12], a point that led McCain advisers Lindsey Graham [13] and Joe Lieberman [14] to resign from the Vets for Freedom [15] advisory board. Now there are questions about Citizens Against Government Waste [16] (CAGW), a non-profit whose lobbying arm and political action committee [17] have long supported McCain. After McCain was "hammered for supporting the Air Force's February decision to award a $40 billion contract for refueling tankers to Northrop Grumman [18] and its European partner," the McCain campaign called CAGW. CAGW then worked "with Northrop and one of its consultants to produce a vitriolic advertising campaign defending the tanker deal," reports the Washington Post. The ads don't mention McCain, but offered "indirect support ... on a highly controversial issue while costing his campaign nothing." CAGW has previously come under scrutiny. A Senate investigation of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff [19] found "a pattern of CAGW producing public relations materials favorable to Mr. Abramoff's clients," allegedly in exchange for donations to the group.
Links:
[1] http://dev.prwatch.org/users/6/diane-farsetta
[2] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/us-government/election-2008
[3] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/front-groups
[4] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/third-party-technique
[5] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/democracy
[6] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/ethics
[7] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/lobbying
[8] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/war-peace
[9] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdev.prwatch.org%2Fspin%2F2008%2F06%2F7407%2Fwaste-not-want-not-friends-campaign-trail&linkname=Waste%20Not%2C%20Want%20Not%20for%20Friends%20on%20the%20Campaign%20Trail
[10] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_McCain:_U.S._presidential_election,_2008
[11] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121237084859336763.html
[12] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Barack_Obama
[13] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lindsey_Graham
[14] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Joe_Lieberman
[15] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Vets_for_Freedom
[16] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_Against_Government_Waste
[17] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/political_action_committee
[18] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Northrop_Grumman
[19] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Jack_Abramoff
[20] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053003121.html