Straight Talk and Cold Cash
Support. As former chairman and now No. 2 Republican on the panel, McCain has counted heavily on support from telecommunications, technology, and media interests. Those ties were clearly demonstrated, in a recent study of campaign contributions to federal lawmakers and others, by the Center for Public Integrity. McCain's take: $2,581,967 from such interests in a nearly 10-year period ending in June 2006.
In reviewing his committee actions, U.S. News found that McCain took positions, sometimes aggressively, that favored his supporters. In other instances, his positions ran counter to their wishes. Such independence, his aides say, shows that McCain's vote is not for sale. "I have worked for Senator McCain for 18 years," says Mark Salter, one of his closest aides, "and not once in 18 years have I seen him vote for something because of a contribution."
That may be, but McCain has developed ties to several companies in the satellite, cable, software, and broadcast industries that have proved to be mutually beneficial. Perhaps one of his most loyal supporters is Charles Ergen, a onetime professional gambler and chief executive of EchoStar Communications, a Colorado-based satellite television provider. The two men are close, and McCain has favored Ergen in his fights with broadcasters and the cable industry, according to Senate aides. McCain "thinks satellite is a damn good alternative" to what he views as an "unregulated cable monopoly," says Mark Buse, a lobbyist and McCain's former top aide on the Commerce Committee.
Ergen, a generous donor to other politicians, hasn't shortchanged McCain. Over the years, EchoStar and people affiliated with the company have given nearly $46,000 to McCain, according to the Center for Public Integrity study. Additionally, in 2001, another Ergen company, Echosphere, provided a $100,000 contribution to the Reform Institute (the nonprofit group then linked to McCain), according to an institute spokesperson.
Another important backer is Charles Dolan, the chairman of Bethpage, N.Y.-based Cablevision Systems Corp. McCain and Dolan both favor a la carte pricing, a flexible pricing plan that would allow customers to pick the cable channels they want, rather than buy fixed-priced packages. Two years ago, the Associated Press disclosed that CASH Holdings, a Cablevision Systems subsidiary, had contributed $200,000 to the Reform Institute. Two McCain political aides, who also were involved in the Reform Institute, solicited the donations, which were given in $100,000 installments in 2003 and 2004.
Testimony. McCain, long a proponent of a la carte pricing, urged federal regulators in May 2004 to support the idea, quoting Dolan's testimony before the Commerce Committee in May 2003. McCain denied there was any conflict of interest. Federal campaign records examined by U.S. News show that Cablevision Systems' pac gave $10,000 to McCain's Senate re-election committee in February 2003—just a month before the senator urged other cable companies, in writing, to follow Cablevision's lead on a la carte pricing. Shortly after the AP story, McCain stepped down as chairman of the Reform Institute's advisory board in March 2005.
Software and Internet businesses also have been generous to McCain—and they've benefited from his support. In April 1999, as he was preparing to run for the presidency the first time, McCain introduced the Protect Act, a measure designed to allow software and other high-tech outfits to export strong encryption, or data-scrambling technology, products to nonhostile nations. McCain's decision stunned some Senate aides, who had watched him oppose encryption-export relief in the past because of national security concerns.
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