John McCain and Me, and You

Last year, soon after I contracted to act as Administrator to the New Haven Democracy Fund, a new public campaign financing program, the Executive Director of Connecticut Common Cause called me (I sat on the board of CT Common Cause). He said that he had been asked to write a report about the Fund for the national office. My response was that I had to write a report to the State Elections Enforcement Commission, so why should he bother to write another? My report could serve both needs. He wanted me to resign from the board, and I thought that was silly. There was no conflict.

The chair of the CT Common Cause board called me soon after, and that conversation quickly convinced me that I did have a conflict, and I sent in a letter of resignation.

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What’s important is my first reaction: I’m a guy with integrity, a good government guy, and I wouldn’t misrepresent my work to Common Cause, or to anyone. My involvement with Common Cause would in no way conflict with my responsbilities as Administrator of a good government program. What I would do would be transparent and in the public interest.

My first thoughts were about me, not about the situation. Most people who feel they have integrity do the same thing.

This is what John McCain is being pilloried for. The difference is that, for McCain, this is not only his first response, but also how he feels after he’s talked with others. He was incapable of seeing that it doesn’t seem right to go around publicly with a lobbyist, on behalf of whose clients he intercedes, until he had gotten in so deep, his aides had to come to the rescue.

He was incapable of telling people he couldn’t intercede for them, the very problem that got him into trouble in the Keating scandal, nearly ending his career, and which again earned him a rebuke for interference from the Federal Communications Commission chairman in 1999.

And when the news media went public with the story, there was not an instant mea culpa. He allowed his campaign to go on the attack, saying it’s a “hit-and-run smear campaign,” “gutter politics.”

This is the man who more than anyone else in politics stands for good government. Not only do his actions undermine his integrity, but they undermine the public’s belief in those who espouse good government. Politicians are all the same. The difference is that good government advocates are the biggest hypocrites, people must be saying to themselves.

McCain owes good government more than defensive accusations. He must use this moment to explain that not even a saint can ignore appearances of impropriety, that no one, however good he is (and especially if he's good), can break the rules. And why.

This is bigger than his presidential run. It may not ruin his chances, but it will go a long way toward undermining the public’s confidence in government, which is supposed to be what government ethics is all about.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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