While driving to work today, I caught the tail end of a report on Lobbyist financing by Peter Overby.
It seems the main body of the story seems to have been about how Obama is purging his campaign and the DNC of lobbyist contributions while simultaneously making all of his fundraising events more transparent by allowing in a reporter. Since it's Obama that is grabbing the reformer mantle by his actions, I think it's a newsworthy story about change in the way elections are financed, especially in contrast to McCain's business as usual.
Imagine my chagrin to hear Peter Overby's kid glove handling of McCain's substantial lobbyist issues at the end of the story. Apparently, Overby is under the impression that McCain's recent purging of lobbyists was nothing more than a window dressing. Had Mr. Overby mastered the art of googling he might have found that the purge was merely a questioneer, that "only" five lobbyists resigned and that at least 115 registered lobbyists are still running and fundraising for his campaign. Upon receiving a conference call from Susan Nelson (McCain's campaign finance chair) one lobbyist said...
"I think they were trying to make the point that this is not an attack on lobbying or any of the people on the campaign," said one participant in the conference call, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They want to move forward. My sense is everyone gets the joke."
There was no mention of why McCain felt it necessary to send out a questioneer regarding lobbyist activities. For example, revelations that important aspects of the McCain campaign were being run by active lobbyists such as...
McCain campaign finance co-chair former Rep. Thomas Loeffler (R, Texas), is a lobbyist for European aerospace giant EADS, the parent company of Airbus
Doug Goodyear, who was going to run the Republican National Convention, and regional campaign director Doug Davenport—worked for DCI Group, which had been hired by Myanmar’s military junta
There was no mention that former lobbyists on leave from lobbying firms will no longer be former lobbyists once they return to said firm...like campaign manager Rick Davis or senior adviser Charlie Black.
It seems Mr. Overby is ready to give John McCain a pass on the lobbyist issue, even if his "fix" came a day late and a dollar short as far as authenticity is concerned. Maybe Mr. Overby was just being slapdash, up against a deadline, or unclear due to brevity. Maybe Mr. Overby is attempting to render some sort of false balance. What do you think?