Clearly New Mexico

From Santa Fe to Austin to Washington - it's (as Molly Ivins would say) just the way they do "bidness" around here.

Let's start with Eric Serna. Remember him? Once upon a time he was the young up-and-coming politico who, when he ran for Corporation Commission in 1982, populated the highways with all those god awful billboards that made him look like Eddie Munster?

Most recently Serna was in the news when he resigned his post as N.M. Superintendent of Insurance after coming under investigation by the state's Attorney General. One of the many questionable acts that was being given scrutiny was Serna's 2004 grant of a controversial waiver allowing a Dallas businessman by the name of David Judd Disiere (who had been convicted of insurance fraud in Louisiana) to do business in New Mexico.

A few months later an oil production firm owned by the Dissiere's wife (Southern Management Services Inc.) serendipitously donated $20,000 to the nonprofit foundation which Serna been using his position to promote.

Just doing bidness.

When the shady deal all came to light, who should rush into the breach to assure state regulators that everything was on the up-and-up, but Disiere's attorney - gold-plated lobbyist and former Texas Congressman, Kent Hance.

Today Hance is right there on the list of 126 corporate lobbyist bagmen who are bundling campaign cash for Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Birds of a feather

Hance started out as a conservative Democrat in Texas. He holds the distinction of being the only person to beat George W. Bush in an election - a 1972 race for Congress. Hance taught young W a lesson he never forgot.

Hance portrayed Bush as "not a real Texan" because of his privileged upbringing and Yale education. Hance later said in an interview that after that election, Bush vowed that "he wasn't going to be out-Christianed or out-good-old-boyed again," and developed the folksy image that eventually carried him to the White House. (from Wikipedia)

Hance famously switched to the Republican party in early '80s - following the lead of his mentor and fellow Texan congressman, Phil Gramm.

Which brings us to Gramm. He went on to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas (he defeated Ron Paul in the 1984 primary) and served from 1985 to 2002.

Currently Gramm serves as the McCain campaign's co-chair and chief economics advisor - the latter post being one that should be taken quite seriously given McCain's admission that economics knowledge is not his strong suit.

Speculation focuses on Gramm getting the Treasury Secretary slot in a McCain Administration. What kind of policies could we expect from a Gramm inspired McCainomics?

For starters, much of the blame for the current subprime mortgage crisis can be laid at the doorstep of Gramm.   Read More »

Over the past couple of months, a discussion on the core issues facing Americans has pretty much fallen by the wayside during the presidential campaign. Americans expect an adult debate on foreign policy, the economy and health care. Instead, the 24-hour news cycle is obsessed with one candidate's middle name and who's most at home taking shots at a bar.

It's not surprising that people are getting fed up.


Fortunately for those of us who relish meaningful policy discourse, Senator John McCain is hitting the road this week to trumpet his plan for reforming the nation's broken health care system.

As a primer for the headlines that are sure to come, I thought it might be important to highlight some questions about the Senator's core policy prescription; tax credits to spur the purchase of private insurance.

Prior to the questions, however, let's review some important facts about Senator McCain's intimate relationship with the insurance industry.

Over the past dozen years, Senator McCain has raised about $3.5 million from interests tied to the insurance industry. Just shy of forty lobbyists from the industry are listed as fundraisers, co-hosts of events, or staffers for the Senator. Furthermore, several high-ranking members of the McCain campaign staff are high-paid lobbyists for insurance interests. (The campaign finance and lobbying figures are based on Public Campaign Action Fund analysis of data obtained from the Center for Responsive Politics).

With this primer, three questions come to mind for the Senior Senator from Arizona.   Read More »

When New Mexicans think about John McCain, I'm guessing most have a pretty vague, but favorable opinion about him. I certainly did, primarily because of his efforts on campaign finance reform several years back. But now, under the scrutiny of the Presidential race, I'm beginning to see McCain in a different light because of the ambiguity created by our current campaign financing system.

Media Matters reports that McCain has 24 staffers or advisors that were either registered lobbyists in 2007 or were previous lobbyists, including pretty high up positions such as his campaign manager, his deputy campaign manager and his senior policy advisor.

And his campaign co-chair and national finance committee co-chairman, former US Representative Thomas Loeffler (R-TX) is a lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on trade issues, according to the Houston Chronicle.

As a lobbyist myself for things like public financing and health care reform, I'm not criticizing the hiring of lobbyists. But I wonder if the clients of McCain's team of lobbyists portend a shifting of the sands under McCain's formerly sturdy legs. Is McCain revealing his true identity as the front man for pharmaceuticals, oil and gas and insurance companies? Or is he just doing his best to raise money in an insane system? With the current system creating a campaign financing arms race, it's virtually impossible to tell whether the person or the system is to blame.

Here's the latest "Whose Side Are They On?" update: Another example of the corporate lobbyist complex at work. We take you to yesterday's credit card hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives:   Read More »