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McCain's ties to lobbyists rattled advisers, strategist says
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WASHINGTON - Aides to Sen. John McCain confronted a telecommunications lobbyist in late 1999 and asked her to distance herself from the senator during the presidential campaign he was about to launch, said one of McCain's longest-serving strategists.
John Weaver, who served as McCain's closest confidant until leaving his campaign last year, said he met with Vicki Iseman of the Arlington, Va.-based firm of Alcalde & Fay and urged her to stay away from McCain. Association with a lobbyist would undermine his image as a decadeslong opponent of special interests, aides had concluded.
Members of the senator's small circle of advisers also confronted McCain, said sources, warning him that his continued relationship with a lobbyist who had business before the powerful Commerce Committee he chaired threatened to derail his ambitions.
The McCain campaign put out a statement saying the story -- which had been reported on the Drudge Report in December and on the New York Times website Wednesday -- was "a hit and run smear campaign."
The Times reported that she said Iseman, who could not be reached for comment, never received special treatment from McCain or his office. But the issue, as one aide put it, was: "We were running a campaign about reforming Washington, and her showing up at events and saying she had close ties to McCain was harmful."
WASHINGTON POST
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