Aide Helped Controversial Russian Meet McCain

Aide Helped Controversial Russian Meet McCain

Davis, Then a Lobbyist, Has Spurred Debate in Reform-Focused Campaign

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and John Solomon

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, January 25, 2008; A01

A top political adviser in Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign

helped arrange an introduction in 2006 between McCain and a Russian

billionaire whose suspected links to anti-democratic and organized-

crime figures are so controversial that the U.S. government revoked

his visa.

Rick Davis, who is now McCain's campaign manager, helped set up the

encounter between McCain and Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska

in Switzerland during an international economic conference. At the

time, Davis was working for a lobbying firm and seeking to do business

with the billionaire.

There is no evidence that McCain did anything for Deripaska after they

met at a social gathering over drinks and dinner. Deripaska was

grateful for the introduction, writing a thank-you note to Davis and

his partner and offering to assist them in a subsequent business deal,

according to a copy of the note obtained by The Washington Post.

With a net worth of more than $13 billion, Deripaska is one of the

richest men in Russia and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.

McCain has been one of Putin's sharpest U.S. critics, calling for

Russia to be kicked out of the Group of Eight industrialized nations

because of Putin's anti-democratic activities. The Arizona Republican

has also repeatedly complained about the negative impact of Kremlin-

linked oligarchs such as Deripaska.

When Deripaska met McCain, Davis was part of Davis Manafort, a

lobbying firm that was being paid to provide political advice to pro-

Russian and oligarch-funded candidates in Ukraine, according to

interviews and news accounts. At the same time, McCain was publicly

supporting those candidates' Western-oriented democratic rivals.

The socializing with Deripaska provides a case study in the challenges

faced by McCain, a longtime foe of Washington lobbyists who has a well-

known lobbyist as his top political aide. Davis, who has been a

political adviser to McCain on and off since 1999, was part of a

lobbying firm that worked not only for Ukrainian politicians but also

for telecommunications firms, a lottery services provider and freight

companies.

Mark Salter, a spokesman for McCain, said that meetings with Deripaska

took place during official trips abroad by senators and that McCain

did nothing improper. "Any contact between Mr. Deripaska and the

senator was social and incidental," he added.

Salter said the contact between McCain and Deripaska did not

constitute a "private meeting"; both men were part of larger

gatherings.

Davis declined to comment, saying by e-mail that his activities

regarding Deripaska "all relate to my private business and have

nothing to do with Senator John McCain."

Within the campaign, Davis's role has been controversial from the

start, as some aides in late 2006 argued to McCain that the Davis

firm's work overseas conflicted with the senator's record as a pro-

democracy champion and an advocate of reducing the influence of

lobbyists in Washington, according to two people familiar with the

conversations. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because

of the sensitivity of internal campaign conversations. The aides

questioned whether Davis should be given an important title in the

campaign because that would make him more vulnerable to criticism, the

sources said.

At first, McCain agreed to give Davis a less conspicuous title, one of

the sources said. But then, the source added, "a few days later he

[McCain] came back and said he had changed his mind."

Salter strongly disagreed with that recounting. "No one suggested Rick

shouldn't be in the campaign or discussed such a thing with the

senator," he said in an e-mail.

Last summer, a power struggle broke out in the McCain campaign after

it ran short of money. Many staffers were dismissed, but Davis

survived the purge.

Cont'd

SEE

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012403383_pf.html

Subject: Aide Helped Controversial Russian Meet McCain

From: Raymond <Bluerhymer@aol.com>

Newsgroups: alt.politics.bush, alt.politics, alt.politics.republicans,

alt.politics.democrats

Aide Helped Controversial Russian Meet McCain

Davis, Then a Lobbyist, Has Spurred Debate in Reform-Focused Campaign

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and John Solomon

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, January 25, 2008; A01

A top political adviser in Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign

helped arrange an introduction in 2006 between McCain and a Russian

billionaire whose suspected links to anti-democratic and organized-

crime figures are so controversial that the U.S. government revoked

his visa.

Rick Davis, who is now McCain's campaign manager, helped set up the

encounter between McCain and Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska

in Switzerland during an international economic conference. At the

time, Davis was working for a lobbying firm and seeking to do business

with the billionaire.

There is no evidence that McCain did anything for Deripaska after they

met at a social gathering over drinks and dinner. Deripaska was

grateful for the introduction, writing a thank-you note to Davis and

his partner and offering to assist them in a subsequent business deal,

according to a copy of the note obtained by The Washington Post.

With a net worth of more than $13 billion, Deripaska is one of the

richest men in Russia and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.

McCain has been one of Putin's sharpest U.S. critics, calling for

Russia to be kicked out of the Group of Eight industrialized nations

because of Putin's anti-democratic activities. The Arizona Republican

has also repeatedly complained about the negative impact of Kremlin-

linked oligarchs such as Deripaska.

When Deripaska met McCain, Davis was part of Davis Manafort, a

lobbying firm that was being paid to provide political advice to pro-

Russian and oligarch-funded candidates in Ukraine, according to

interviews and news accounts. At the same time, McCain was publicly

supporting those candidates' Western-oriented democratic rivals.

The socializing with Deripaska provides a case study in the challenges

faced by McCain, a longtime foe of Washington lobbyists who has a well-

known lobbyist as his top political aide. Davis, who has been a

political adviser to McCain on and off since 1999, was part of a

lobbying firm that worked not only for Ukrainian politicians but also

for telecommunications firms, a lottery services provider and freight

companies.

Mark Salter, a spokesman for McCain, said that meetings with Deripaska

took place during official trips abroad by senators and that McCain

did nothing improper. "Any contact between Mr. Deripaska and the

senator was social and incidental," he added.

Salter said the contact between McCain and Deripaska did not

constitute a "private meeting"; both men were part of larger

gatherings.

Davis declined to comment, saying by e-mail that his activities

regarding Deripaska "all relate to my private business and have

nothing to do with Senator John McCain."

Within the campaign, Davis's role has been controversial from the

start, as some aides in late 2006 argued to McCain that the Davis

firm's work overseas conflicted with the senator's record as a pro-

democracy champion and an advocate of reducing the influence of

lobbyists in Washington, according to two people familiar with the

conversations. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because

of the sensitivity of internal campaign conversations. The aides

questioned whether Davis should be given an important title in the

campaign because that would make him more vulnerable to criticism, the

sources said.

At first, McCain agreed to give Davis a less conspicuous title, one of

the sources said. But then, the source added, "a few days later he

[McCain] came back and said he had changed his mind."

Salter strongly disagreed with that recounting. "No one suggested Rick

shouldn't be in the campaign or discussed such a thing with the

senator," he said in an e-mail.

Last summer, a power struggle broke out in the McCain campaign after

it ran short of money. Many staffers were dismissed, but Davis

survived the purge.

Cont'd

SEE

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012403383_pf.html

Everyone knows that congressmen profit from their connections, but

not a lot of people investigate those things. For instance, not a lot of

people know that Sam Nunn (Democratic senator formerly on the Armed

Services Committee) is a board member of the computer giant Dell. Gee...

I wonder what kind of computers the Pentagon has it's employees using...

Anyway, some of these things are worth looking into. I think

McCain is probably a generally honest guy, but it does kind of bug me

that someone would dismiss the whole Iraq thing with "...but we can't

leave now or there will be chaos" type of response to a question about

it. If you're wrong in the first place, and you stay in that place,

you're still wrong.

On the other hand, if I'm right about what the motivation for the

whole thing was, chaos in Iraq is just what the Bushistas really want.

Think of the oil like the African conflict diamonds. You agitage a civil

war between the main ethnic/religious/cultural/political groups, and

then they'll sell whatever they can cheaply to get more weapons to beat

the other side. What story are the oil company people selling back in

the US? They're saying oil's so high in price because the supply is now

"threatened" by the "terrorists" in Iraq.

They'll be saying that as long as the civil conflict there

continues, even when they're buying it cheaper than ever before.