Democratic National Committee:Press

Editorial pages around the country are weighing on the McCain campaign's hypocrisy on tax returns and transparency. Despite his efforts to craft an image as a champion of transparency in government, Senator McCain refuses to apply those standards of accountability and openness to himself. In addition to releasing just two years of his own tax returns--far less than any party nominee since Ronald Reagan in 1980--the McCain campaign is refusing to release Mrs. McCain's tax returns, even if she becomes First Lady.

The following are excerpts of editorials from around the country calling for openness and transparency from the McCain campaign:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Need for Openness Now Even More Urgent. "Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain, apparently thinks she lives in her own world. But with her husband now the GOP's presumed nominee for the White House, she needs to realize, finally, that she lives in the public world. The world in which public officials open their tax returns for public viewing. Cindy McCain contends that she won't do that, that she and her husband always have filed separate returns and that her money -- a considerable sum -- is her own. Maybe if she ...   more »

Democratic National Committee:Press

Editorial pages around the country are weighing on the McCain campaign's hypocrisy on tax returns and transparency. Despite his efforts to craft an image as a champion of transparency in government, Senator McCain refuses to apply those standards of accountability and openness to himself. In addition to releasing just two years of his own tax returns--far less than any party nominee since Ronald Reagan in 1980--the McCain campaign is refusing to release Mrs. McCain's tax returns, even if she becomes First Lady.

The following are excerpts of editorials from around the country calling for openness and transparency from the McCain campaign:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Need for Openness Now Even More Urgent. "Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain, apparently thinks she lives in her own world. But with her husband now the GOP's presumed nominee for the White House, she needs to realize, finally, that she lives in the public world. The world in which public officials open their tax returns for public viewing. Cindy McCain contends that she won't do that, that she and her husband always have filed separate returns and that her money -- a considerable sum -- is her own. Maybe if she ...   more »

Democratic National Committee:Research

David Safavian, the Bush Administration's former chief contracting and procurement official at OMB, is in court today for his ongoing Federal corruption trial, in connection with Jack Abramoff's questionable business dealings with the Bush Administration and Republican members of Congress. Safavian repeatedly told investigators that he had no ongoing business with the Republican mega-lobbyist. However, during that time, Safavian was helping Abramoff lease government property controlled by the agency where he worked. He gave him advice over email, reviewed memos that Abramoff was sending to other GSA employees, and set up a meeting for Abramoff's wife and business partner with Administration officials. To say thank you, Abramoff took him to Scotland on a golf junket with Republican members of Congress. But Safavian didn't rest on his laurels. Up until his arrest, he was busy setting contracting policy for billions in federal funds earmarked for the Gulf Coast relief effort. This is what Bush's policies of political cronyism and patronage produces: political hacks and lobbyists handling billions of dollars in taxpayer funds, while jetting off to Europe on trips paid for by their old lobbying partners.

Safavian ...   more »