John McCain's HUGE 'associate' problems

John McCain's "top-dollar" terrorist supporter
The co-host of a recent top-dollar fundraiser for Sen. John McCain oversaw the payment of roughly $1.7 million to a Colombian paramilitary group that is today designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

Carl H. Lindner Jr., the billionaire Cincinnati businessman, was CEO of Chiquita Brands International from 1984 to 2001, and remained on the company's board of directors until May 2002. Beginning under his tenure, Chiquita executives paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (known by the Spanish acronym AUC), which is described by George Washington University's National Security Archive as an "illegal right-wing anti-guerrilla group tied to many of the country's most notorious civilian massacres."

Following a Justice Department indictment last year, Chiquita admitted to illegally funding the paramilitaries and agreed to pay a $25 million fine. Chiquita's payments to the AUC began in 1997 and lasted seven years; roughly half of the funds came after the group was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department in 2001.

(July 2, 2007/Huffington Post)


John McCain's corporate jet buddy gets fraudulent favors
Broadcaster Lowell "Bud" Paxson yesterday contradicted statements from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign that the senator did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist before sending two controversial letters to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson's behalf. (McCain acted at the request of the company's lobbyist, Iseman, during a period when he used Paxson's corporate jet four times to travel to campaign events.) Paxson said he talked with McCain in his Washington office several weeks before the Arizona Republican wrote the letters in 1999 to the FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson's quest to acquire a Pittsburgh television station.

Paxson also recalled that his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, likely attended the meeting in McCain's office and that Iseman helped arrange the meeting. "Was Vicki there? Probably," Paxson said in an interview with The Washington Post yesterday. "The woman was a professional. She was good. She could get us meetings."

(Feb. 23, 2008/Washington Post)


John McCain's Arizona co-chair indicted for fraud
Today's indictment of Congressman Rick Renzi, Co-Chair of John McCain's campaign in Arizona, caps off a week of problems for McCain that have raised serious questions about his credibility on ethics. McCain had announced Renzi as part of his 'Arizona Leadership Team' on January 26th even though the now-indicted Congressman had been under investigation for more than a year for his role in a land deal and legislation to benefit a business partner.

(Feb. 22, 2008/Cherry Creek News)


John McCain's Florida co-chair totally busted for bathroom solicitation
Florida state representative Bob Allen (R-Merritt Island), co-sponsor of a bill that would have increased penalties for public lewdness and indecent exposure had it been passed, has been convicted following a week-long jury trial on charges that he solicited an undercover male officer for sex at a park in Central Florida.

[NOTE: Allen was co-chair of Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s Florida campaign at the time of his arrest.]

(Nov. 9, 2007/North County Gazette)