FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                August 14, 2008

Washington, DC // John McCain will meet late Thursday, August 14th and Friday, August 15th, with his top donors in Aspen, Colorado including, reportedly, Sheldon Adelson, who is the top funder of Freedom’s Watch and conservative 527s.

The private strategy briefings Mr. Adelson will receive from the McCain campaign raise some important questions.

1. Are the groups Mr. Adelson is funding really independent from the McCain campaign?

2. Will Mr. Adelson use information provided to him by the McCain campaign in private strategy meetings to influence how Freedom's Watch and other groups he finances promote McCain and attack Obama and other Democrats?

“This looks like a coordinated campaign.  Freedom’s Watch goes on the air with a TV ad attacking Democrats on oil drilling. Senator McCain gives speeches attacking Democrats on oil drilling and releases his own ad. Then John McCain meets with the chief funder behind the TV ads.  How about some ‘straight talk’ about what’s really going on here?” said Tom Matzzie, founder of Accountable America.

“McCain is proving again that there is no standard of hypocrisy that he cannot meet.  He has made a career of attacking 527s and other groups that talk about candidates and politics.  Now he closets himself with their chief financiers in secret meetings while they are in full operation,” Matzzie added.

“Will Senator McCain live up to his own standards or will he say whatever he thinks will help him get elected? These groups are attacking the overall Democratic Party brand, which is a boost to Senator McCain.  As long as groups like Freedom’s Watch are out there, he is in the pocket of their big donors,” he concluded.

What Senator McCain Used to Say About 527s

McCain: The American People Are “Tired Of The 527’s.” While taking questions from reporters at the annual meeting of the Newspaper Association of America, McCain said, “Americans want a respectful campaign.  They’re tired of the 527s. They’re tired of the attacks. They’re tired of the impugning people’s character and integrity. They want a respectful campaign. And I am of the firm belief that they’ll get it and they can get it, if the American demand it and reject a lot of this negative stuff that goes on.” [Transcript of the Annual Meeting of the Newspaper Association of America, 4/14/08]

McCain: “The 527’s Need To Be Eliminated.” During an appearance on Fox’s “Fox News Sunday,” John McCain said, “The 527s need to be eliminated. That’s because the Federal Elections Commission won’t enforce existing law, which was 1974.  Party leaders will tell you that national and local parties are in power, but most importantly, look, I saw -- I worked there -- soft money, people calling up, members of Congress calling up a union leader, a trial lawyer, a corporate head and say, ‘I need a seven- figure check from you, and your bill is up before my committee.’ Soft money was corrupting. If anybody thinks that we need more special interest money in Washington, I’d like to meet them.” [Fox News, “Fox News Sunday,” 10/21/07]

McCain Called 527’s The “One Of The Most Outrageous, And Most Evil, Kinds Of Practices.” During an appearance on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” John McCain said, “It was significant in the fact that we won one, but there’s so much more to be done. We’ve cured one of the most outrageous, and most evil, kinds of practices which requires full disclosure of people who contribute to a loophole in the tax code called 527.” [NPR, “Talk of the Nation,” 7/12/00]

McCain Said 527’s Were “An Egregious And Obscene Distortion Of Everything That The American People Believe In.” During an appearance on PBS’s “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” John McCain said, “There is no way that I know of that 527’s favor one party or another, one group or the other, it’s an egregious and obscene distortion of everything that the American people believe in and it should be eliminated. It’s like saying we’ve got certain evils in our society, rape, murder, and robbery, and we shouldn’t get rid of one of the three if we can for the sake that we can’t get rid of all of the three. I mean it’s ludicrous.” [PBS, “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, 6/30/00]

McCain Called 527 Organizations The “Pernicious Evil,” Allowing Special Interests To Mislead The Electorate. The Houston Chronicle reported, “McCain, the leader of campaign finance reform efforts on Capitol Hill, called the formation of 527 groups in recent years an example of the ‘pernicious evil’ that now ‘infects our campaign finance system.’  He said that unless closed, the IRS loophole will continue to let individuals and special interests dump millions into misleading advertising in the closing days of a campaign without any accountability.” [Houston Chronicle, 5/18/00]