Reformer McCain is long gone

Use of Reed shows he’ll do anything for contest

As Sen. John McCain makes daily statements about the conflict in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, his campaign is answering questions regarding how his top foreign policy adviser, lobbyist Randy Scheunemann, made a killing in lobbying fees from the Georgian government.

But that’s not McCain’s only Georgia problem. Ralph Reed is fund-raising for the Arizona senator’s Aug. 18 fund-raiser at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta, and that has made even the most ardent McCain backers scratch their heads.

Wasn’t it McCain’s committee that surfaced all the connections between Reed, the former Christian Coalition head, and the convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff? Didn’t Reed campaign to defeat McCain during the 2000 presidential primary using sleazy tactics?

Wait, isn’t McCain a reformer? Not so much, apparently.

McCain and Reed certainly have “history.” In 2000, Reed was reportedly behind a smear that played a role in McCain losing the South Carolina primary to George W. Bush. Reed was blamed by some for planting the scurrilous rumor that McCain had fathered an illegitimate African-American child, and by the time the record was corrected, the race was lost.

A few years later, McCain’s Senate Indian Affairs Committee investigated Reed’s work for lobbyist Abramoff. Reed played a central role in a scheme by Abramoff and his associates that defrauded American Indian tribes out of tens of millions of dollars. Despite Reed’s claims of innocence, his consulting firm was paid $5.3 million from working with Abramoff. His handiwork included using a religious group as a front for one casino-rich tribe to pay for an anti-casino campaign against another competing tribe.

Also well-known was Reed’s work to defeat legislation that would have protected workers in the Northern Marianas who were subject to brutal conditions, like forced abortions and prostitution.

Reed was just far enough from the center to avoid criminal prosecution that put Abramoff, other lobbyists and one member of Congress behind bars. But his misdeeds —- and his inability to repent for them —- were bad enough that voters rejected him in his run for Georgia lieutenant governor in 2006.

I’m convinced that the John McCain of 2000 would describe Ralph Reed as the textbook example of everything that’s wrong with politics today. McCain once said Reed was worse than a “charlatan” and a “crook.” Yet the McCain of 2008 appears quite willing to accept his fund-raising help. Why?

Perhaps McCain and his campaign think he needs the money and can take his lumps in the newspapers here and there. After all, Reed raised more than $200,000 for President Bush in 2004. Or that Reed holds some key to increasing turnout of the evangelical vote. Perhaps Reed’s telegenic face on national TV and his willingness to carry the campaign’s message is what appeals.

Whatever the reason, one thing is clear: McCain’s ambition to be president has overwhelmed his desire to fight for campaign finance reform. While his willingness to accept Reed’s help may be the most shocking rejection of the “reformer” label, it isn’t the first.

When McCain began gearing up for his 2008 White House bid, his name disappeared from a bill he once authored that would have fixed the presidential public financing system. After deriding lobbyists for years, he assembled a team of paid staff, advisers and fund-raisers that reads like a who’s who of special-interest lobbyists he once criticized. The list goes on.

Accepting Reed’s help is just one more sign that McCain has lost his way.