The Washington Post reported yesterday in a well researched report that Cindy McCain, John McCain, and the Secret Service early in 2007 managed to get a site survey and temporary cell tower put in, including archeological research report, from Verizon, for their remote Sedona Ranch in Hidden Valley, which is a sparsely populated area with spotty existing coverage. Was it just a "request from a customer", or were there favors made to the McCain campaign?
Follow me over the fold to the story and the McCain campaign explanations.
TheWashington Post reported yesterday that Cindy McCain offered land on her ranch property at Hidden Valley, a deep tree-lined canyon, for a permanent cell tower to be erected to solve the long-standing problem of no mobile coverage at the ranch for her presidential candidate husband John. What a sweetheart.
Verizon ultimately abandoned its effort to install a permanent tower in August. Company spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said the project would be "an inappropriate way" to build its network. "It doesn't make business sense for us to do that," he added.
Instead, Verizon delivered a portable tower known as a "cell site on wheels" -- free of charge -- to the McCain property in June, after the Secret Service began inquiring about improving coverage in the area. Such devices are used for providing temporary capacity where coverage is lacking or has been knocked out, in circumstances ranging from the Super Bowl to hurricanes.
In July, AT&T followed suit, wheeling in a portable tower for free to match Verizon's offer. "This is an unusual situation," AT&T spokeswoman Claudia B. Jones said. "You can't have a presidential nominee in an area where there is not cell coverage."
Verizon and AT&T jumped in with mobile towers that are generally used only in special circumstances. But hey, having a POW running for president and needing to get his calls is a special circumstance, right? Well... maybe...
except for his Senate position, and all those lobbyists on his campaign staff...
Ethics lawyers said Cindy McCain's dealings with the wireless companies stand out because her husband, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), is a senior member of the Senate commerce committee, which oversees the Federal Communications Commission and the telecommunications industry. He has been a leading advocate for industry-backed legislation, fighting regulations and taxes on telecommunication services.
McCain and his campaign have close ties to Verizon and AT&T. Five campaign officials, including manager Rick Davis, have worked as lobbyists for Verizon. Former McCain staff member Robert Fisher is an in-house lobbyist for Verizon and is volunteering for the campaign. Fisher, Verizon chief executive Ivan G. Seidenberg and company lobbyists have raised more than $1.3 million for McCain's presidential effort, and Verizon employees are among the top 20 corporate donors over McCain's political career, giving his campaigns more than $155,000.
McCain's Senate chief of staff Mark Buse, senior strategist Charles R. Black Jr. and several other campaign staff members have registered as AT&T lobbyists in the past. AT&T Executive Vice President Timothy McKone and AT&T lobbyists have raised more than $2.3 million for McCain. AT&T employees have donated more than $325,000 to the Republican's campaigns, putting the company in the No. 3 spot for career donations to McCain, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Three telecommunications specialists The Post consulted said the proposed site covers so few users that it would be unlikely to generate enough traffic to justify the investment. Robb Alarcon, an industry specialist who helps plan tower placement, said the proposed location appears to be a "strategic build," free-of-charge coverage to high-priority customers. A former Verizon executive vice president, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he worked for the company, agreed with Alarcon, saying, "It was a VIP kind of thing."
VIP thing?
Today the Atlantic picked up the story and quotes the McCain campaign's response to the WaPo article as being
the result of a Secret Service request and, while conceding that Cindy McCain had made a separate, earlier request for the towers that predated her husband’s status as Republican presidential nominee, added, "Mrs. McCain's staff went through the Website as any member of the general public would—no string pulling, no phone calls, no involvement of Senate staff."
Verizon claimed that yesterday's WaPo story was false, and that the company had given up on the idea of providing a permanent tower on the ranch. "It doesn’t make business sense for us to do that," [Jeffrey] Nelson (spokesman for Verizon) told the Post. The Atlantic links to a 200 page environmental assessment done by Verizon for the permanent towers. Did the McCains get special consideration with the temporary cell towers, or in the investment Verizon made in the environmental studies and other regulatory steps it took toward the $22,000 construction on behalf of the McCains and a handful of other residents in the very remote area?