A factsheet from Campaign Money Watch
Last updated October 13, 2008

Over the past few years, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) position on telecom immunity has been in flux. On various occasions he has stated that such immunity should only be granted if the telecommunications companies involved testified openly about their involvement and apologized, and if the language of the bill made clear that future warrantless wiretapping was unacceptable. But in recent months his position has become more ambiguous. Not only did he vote in favor of telecom immunity legislation that did not contain any of the above provisions, he has also backtracked on some of them altogether. One reason for his change of heart may be his campaign’s close ties to the telecom industry. Seventy-one of his staffers and fundraisers have lobbied for AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, and all told those companies and their employees have donated more than $600,000 to his campaigns since 1989.

BACKGROUND

John McCain has issued contradictory statements about his position on telecom immunity

• In November 2007 McCain said, “If retroactive immunity passes, it should be done with explicit statements that this is not a blessing, there should be oversight hearings to understand what happened, and Congress should include provisions that ensure that Americans' private records will not be dealt with like that again.” (1)
• In February 2008 he voted against stripping telecom immunity from the FISA bill. (2)
• In May 2008, Chuck Fish, an attorney and advisor to the McCain campaign, said that telecoms should have to explain their role in wireless wiretapping before receiving immunity: “There would need to be hearings, real hearings, to find out what actually happened, what harms actually occurred, rather than some sort of sweeping of things under the rug,” Fish said. (3)
• The McCain campaign then tried to clarify its position, omitting its insistence on oversight hearings and public apologies: “The granting of retroactive immunity supports the continuing efforts of participating companies yet should be done with explicit statements that this is not a blessing for future activities,” a campaign statement said. (4)

Seventy-one McCain campaign staffers and fundraisers have worked as lobbyists for the telecommunications companies known to have participated in the warrantless wiretapping (5)

• Thirty-nine McCain staffers and fundraisers have lobbied for AT&T/BellSouth from 1998 to the present. These include John Green, McCain’s liaison to Congress; Tom Loeffler, McCain’s former fundraising co-chairman; and chief strategist Charlie Black.
• Twenty-five McCain staffers and fundraisers have lobbied for Verizon. These include campaign manager Rick Davis, deputy campaign manager Christian Ferry, and national finance co-chairman Wayne Berman.
• Seven McCain staffers and fundraisers have lobbied on behalf of Sprint, including Kirk Blalock, the chairman of Young Professionals for McCain; and Kirsten Chadwick, finance director of Young Professionals for McCain.

John McCain has raised more than $800,000 from employees and the PACs of three telecom companies with the most to gain from immunity

Firms employing staffers and fundraisers on McCain’s campaign have earned millions of dollars lobbying on behalf of the telecom industry since 1998

1. Declan McCullagh, “McCain Tangled in Flip-Flop Flap Over Wiretapping Immunity,” [1] CNET News, June 5, 2008.

2. S.Amdt. 3907 to S.Amdt. 3911 to S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007), 110th Congress, Vote #15.

3. Jonathan Weisman and Ellen Nakashima, “For McCain, A Switch On Telecom Immunity?” [2] The Washington Post, May 29, 2008.

4. Ibid.

5. Campaign finance and lobbying figures are based on Campaign Money Watch analysis of data obtained from the Center for Responsive Politics (http://www.opensecrets.org [3]), a non-partisan organization that tracks and codes campaign finance data by industry and tracks lobbying. Campaign finance data include individual contributions ($200+) and from Political Action Committees (PACs) to campaign committees and leadership PACs. Data for the 2008 cycle were downloaded in October 2008.