Top McCain advisor is mouthpiece for Blackwater

As John McCain's reputation as a family man and a politician with a

clean ethical record came under attack on Thursday, one man's voice

was heard most loudly: top political adviser Charles R. Black, Jr..

"We're going to go to war with them now," Black bluntly told the

Politico on Thursday, referring to the New York Times.

Black was front and center in several media accounts about the Times'

allegations regarding McCain's relationship with lobbyist Vicky

Iseman, assailing the paper for lowering its standards and "smearing"

the senator.

For Black, it must have seemed like just another day at the office.

The lobbying firm he leads, BKSH & Associates, is a specialist in

helping its corporate clients put out fires in Washington. And for the

second time in this election season, Black was connected to a major

campaign-related controversy. The last time, his firm helped prepare

private military contractor giant Blackwater Worldwide for a

congressional probe of the killing of 17 civilians by its guards in

Baghdad.

In the process of coaching Blackwater, BKSH inadvertently drew Hillary

Clinton's presidential campaign into a lengthy controversy over the

private career of its top political strategist, Mark Penn. In addition

to guiding Clinton's campaign, Penn heads up Burson-Marsteller, a

global public relations company with many clients whose interests

often seem to clash with a variety of Democratic political goals. BKSH

is a subsidiary of Penn's firm.

A former BKSH employee, Robert Tappan, had brought Blackwater to BKSH

as a client. The ex-State Department official has since left Black's

firm, and Blackwater is no longer a client. Still, the Times'

revelations on Thursday are likely to focus more attention on the

clients and company that McCain supporters like Black have been known

to keep.

It's not clear whether Black's firm's work for Blackwater has had any

effect on Senator McCain's policy positions relating to the use of

private military contractors. Black would insist it has not.

"I not only do not lobby him [McCain], but if an issue comes up that I

have a client on, I will tell him that and stay out of the

discussion," he told the Washington Post on Friday.

Still, although McCain is the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed

Services Committee, he has not been particularly vocal on the use of

rented security personnel in Iraq and other locations around the

world.

When Blackwater has come up, McCain has not addressed the issue

directly. In an October appearance on CNN when the company's role in

Iraq was being most deeply probed, McCain would only say that the

failure of President Bush and ex-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to

deploy enough troops in Iraq had made the use of contractors

necessary.

Independent of Black, it's possible that McCain has developed some

grudging respect for the private security contractors the US employs

in Iraq. The senator has made many visits to the war-torn country, and

congressional delegations are often guarded by contractors like

Blackwater.

During the fall 2007 House hearings, Republican congress members

praised the company for having a perfect protection record in the

country.

"Blackwater has protected dozens if not hundreds of members of

Congress, including myself and members of this committee, when they

travel to Afghanistan and Iraq," said Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) in

an October hearing of the House Oversight Committee. "I for one am

grateful for their services. Not one single member of Congress has

been injured nor killed under Blackwater protection, and for that I am

grateful."