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Great Moments In The Mccain Lobbying Mess

My favorite so far, courtesy of today's Times:

The lobbying clout of Mr. Davis, the campaign manager, derives from his longtime Washington connections, which he drew attention to as recently as three years ago.

In January 2005, he apparently pitched executives of Pegasus Capital Advisors, a private investment firm in Cos Cob, Conn., on the idea of putting money into a new firm in which he would be a partner, documents indicate. He told Pegasus Capital’s representatives that experienced “Washington insiders” like him could use their ties to advance the interests of companies seeking federal contracts, according to documents obtained by The New York Times. A spokesman for Pegasus did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

The proposal never bore fruit. But it came at the same time Mr. Davis was lobbying the Defense Department on behalf of Imagesat, an Israeli company that sells satellite imagery in which Pegasus Capital had invested. He was also then drawing a salary as the part-time president of the Reform Institute, a Washington group Mr. McCain helped found to champion ideals like reducing “the influence of special interests” in politics and government [emphasis added].

This has been "Great Moments in the McCain Lobbying Mess." More surely to come...

--Noam Scheiber