It's Not The Sex...

...it's the ethics. Or lack thereof. First the NYT then the WaPo (apparently more to follow) report on St. John's "inappropriate" "relationship" with a telco lobbyist named Vicki Iseman.

There's even a Pittsburgh angle. Via smintheus at dkos we find that:

On November 17, 1999 the Senator and Presidential candidate instructed the FCC commissioners to take action on the deal no later than December 15, 1999. "If in your judgment the Commission cannot meet this request, please advise me of this fact in writing, with a specific and complete explanation, no later than November 18, 1999," wrote McCain.

In a second letter, dated December 10, 1999, written to FCC Chair William Kennard, McCain was even more forceful in his resolution. He demanded, "if the license applications were not acted upon" that Chairman Kennard "...explain why." Obviously feeling the pressure, the commissioners voted to approve the application. However, the FCC press release indicated that the 30-page opinion included four separate dissenting opinions.

Kennard responded to McCain's letter by saying, "It is highly unusual for the commissioners to be asked to publicly announce their voting status on a matter that is still pending." He said such inquiries "could have procedural and substantive impacts on the Commission's deliberations and, thus, on the due process rights of the parties."

Save Pittsburgh Public Television campaign's director Jerry Starr, said, "This is the latest and most flagrant example of Washington insiders riding rough-shod over community sentiment. The pressure to resolve this by December 15th comes from the applicants, Paxson Communications, WQED, and Cornerstone TeleVision, whose contract expires at the end of the year." Starr added, "McCain is making big statements about taking the money out of politics, but we have discovered that Paxson, his people and his attorneys have contributed at least $15,000 to McCain's campaign in the past few months."

(Paxson and Cornerstone are fundie outfits; WQED is the local PBS station.)

I don't really care if McCain was having it off the Ms. Iseman (it wouldn't be the first time he's done such a thing) but I'd hope, tough wouldn't bet, that this puts to rest his image of Mr. Ethical Maverick Straight Talk Express. That's almost entirely a creation of the "liberal" media. However, they have there narrrative and they'll likely stick to it.

Jane: "No jokes about "lobbyists" and "pork.""

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ADDED: JMM:

Reading all of this stuff I have the distinct feeling that only a few pieces of the puzzle are now on the table. Given unspoken understandings of many years' duration, a lot of reporters and DC types can probably imagine what the full picture looks like. But we're going to need a few more pieces before the rest of us can get a sense of what this is all about.

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