This dairy contains information that is easily accessible on the Internet. But I would venture to guess that although most people have heard of the Keating 5, not many people actually know the story.
Since this happened almost 20 years ago, I had forgotten most of the details. I used "the google" to find information and there was a bunch of it. I have decided to use quotes exclusively from wikipedia since it summarizes things quite nicely.
First the background:
The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), John McCain (R-AZ), and Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), were accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB).
After a lengthy investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee determined in 1991 that Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle had substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings. Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly.
All five of the senators involved served out their terms. Only Glenn and McCain ran for re-election, and they were both re-elected.
So what exactly did John McCain do?
On April 2, 1987, a meeting with Edwin J. Gray, chairman of the FHLBB, was held in DeConcini's Capitol office, with Senators Cranston, Glenn, and McCain also in attendance.[6] DeConcini started the meeting with a mention of "our friend at Lincoln."[6] Gray told the assembled senators that he did not know the particular details of the status of Lincoln Savings and Loan, and that the senators would have to go to the bank regulators in San Francisco that had oversight jurisdiction for the bank. Gray did offer to set up a meeting between those regulators and the senators.[6]
On April 9, 1987, a two-hour meeting[4] with three members of the FHLBB San Francisco branch was held, again in DeConcini's office, to discuss the government's investigation of Lincoln.[7][6] Present were Cranston, DeConcini, Glenn, McCain, and additionally Riegle.[6] The regulators felt that the meeting was very unusual and that they were being pressured by a united front, as the senators presented their reasons for having the meeting.[6] McCain said, "One of our jobs as elected officials is to help constituents in a proper fashion. ACC is a big employer and important to the local economy. I wouldn't want any special favors for them.... I don't want any part of our conversation to be improper." Glenn said, "To be blunt, you should charge them or get off their backs," while DeConcini said, "What's wrong with this if they're willing to clean up their act? ... It's very unusual for us to have a company that could be put out of business by its regulators."[6] The regulators then revealed that Lincoln was under criminal investigation on a variety of serious charges, at which point McCain severed all relations with Keating.[6] Glenn continued to help Keating after that revelation, by setting up a meeting with then-House Majority Leader Jim Wright, which turned out to be the only questionable thing Glenn did throughout the whole affair.[8]
Doesn't sound so bad. McCain actually stated he didn't want to get directly involved because "Lincoln was under criminal investigation on a variety of serious charges". But can we really believe that Mcain wasn't more deeply involved?
McCain and Keating had become personal friends following their initial contacts in 1981.[7] Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received $112,000 in lawful[12] political contributions from Keating and his associates.[13] In addition, McCain's wife Cindy McCain and her father Jim Hensley had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators. McCain, his family, and their baby-sitter had made nine trips at Keating's expense, sometimes aboard Keating's jet. Three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating's opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay. McCain did not pay Keating (in the amount of $13,433) for some of the trips until years after they were taken, when he learned that Keating was in trouble over Lincoln.[6][14]
Seems he didn't mind taking luxurious vacations until his close person friend was indicted. Do you really think McCain is clean is this matter?
Now, I don't want to play the guilt by association game. However, this does indicate that McCain was willing and did in fact accept gifts and campaign contributions from his close personal friend, Mr. Keating. Why does this matter now? At least back then, Senator McMaverick cut ties with unethical friends. Seems like twenty years later, he has gotten over his issues with appearance of impropriety by continuing to employ unscrupulous people in his current Presidential Campaign. Additionally, it helps explain McCain's attitude towards consumers in the current sub-prime debacle.
Flexible ethics, that's change we need!