Rick Davis’ Firm Paid By Freddie Mac Through Last Month
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, McCain, Money
Yesterday I shared a story about Davis’ lobbying ties to the troubled mortgage giants. And yesterday McCain claimed that his campaign manager hadn’t been involved with his lobbying firm for a few years.
Well, today the Times follows up and finds that Davis’s involvement was more extensive than previously thought…
WASHINGTON — One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. [...]They said they did not recall Mr. Davis’s doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than speak to a political action committee of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the approaching midterm Congressional elections. They said Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis & Manafort, had been kept on the payroll because of Mr. Davis’s close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who by 2006 was widely expected to run again for the White House.
Mr. Davis took a leave from Davis & Manafortfor the the presidential campaign, but as a partner and equity-holder continues to benefit from its income. No one at Davis & Manafort other than Mr. Davis was involved in efforts on Freddie Mac’s behalf, the people familiar with the arrangement said.
So not only was he President of an advocacy group who lobbied Congress to go easy on regulating Freddie and Fannie, but now we find he doubled dipped (to the tune of $500,000) with his lobbying firm and he was the only person working on the Freddie account.
As I’ve stated previously, this cuts right through the heart of the narrative McCain’s camp has been trying to build about Obama’s ties to Freddie and Fannie and monetary gains he reaped. Because Davis has now earned approximately $2.3M for his work associated with the two.
In other words, stories like this aren’t meant to suggest that Davis is necessarily responsible for what has happened. They’re merely meant to highlight consistency and credibility, and McCain’s camp seems to have none when it comes to this issue.
More as it develops…
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, McCain, Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:21 pm
But a McCain campaign aide disputed the claim that he has received any compensation from the firm since taking his leave in December 2006. The aide told FOX News that Davis stopped taking a salary and draws no partnership distribution from the firm.
Davis was working on minority homeownership. He gave a forum with paul begala there.
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:58 pm
To Jeff-
What matters here Jeff, is honesty, integrity, and plausibility. McCain’s campaign manager and McCain himself, BOTH seem to have serious deficits in all departments. They both lied about his involvement. In the midst of this national financial crisis which was kicked off by the Fannie/Freddie fiasco, what are voters with any intelligence supposed to think? This could be one of the final nails in the coffin of McCain’s unethical quest for the Presidency.
September 24th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Regardless of whether or not he continued to draw a salary, as an owner in the company he has benefited personally from our collective suffering.
To claim otherwise is to engage in the typical “three card monte” game that the principals in the RNC have become so adept at playing.
September 24th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Ken: Are you embracing “fake but accurate”? Good to know.
Camp McCain has flat out called the Times liars on this:
“Today the New York Times launched its latest attack on this campaign in its capacity as an Obama advocacy organization. Let us be clear about what this story alleges: The New York Times charges that McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis was paid by Freddie Mac until last month, contrary to previous reporting, as well as statements by this campaign and by Mr. Davis himself.
“In fact, the allegation is demonstrably false. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis separated from his consulting firm, Davis Manafort, in 2006. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis has seen no income from Davis Manafort since 2006. Zero. Mr. Davis has received no salary or compensation since 2006. Mr. Davis has received no profit or partner distributions from that firm on any basis — weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual — since 2006. Again, zero. Neither has Mr. Davis received any equity in the firm based on profits derived since his financial separation from Davis Manafort in 2006.
“Further, and missing from the Times’ reporting, Mr. Davis has never — never — been a lobbyist for either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Mr. Davis has not served as a registered lobbyist since 2005.
“Though these facts are a matter of public record, the New York Times, in what can only be explained as a willful disregard of the truth, failed to research this story or present any semblance of a fairminded treatment of the facts closely at hand.”
Given the fact that the Times story really supplies no source or evidence for their claims, and really this is a matter of facts not opinion, one really begins to wonder if the NYT editorial offices are being run from Obama campaign HQ.