McCain Campaign Calls; A Nonprofit Steps In

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O'Harrow on McCain Investigation

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The McCain campaign said that it did not coordinate with CAGW on the group's ads about the tanker deal and that Swindle played no role in initiating the attack on Northrop's opponents. "One campaign staffer called CAGW to ask for information about what CAGW had said in the past on the issue, and was told that CAGW had a policy of not talking to the campaign. That was the end of the conversation," spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said in a statement.

Swindle is a friend of McCain who shared a cell with him as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He did not respond to requests for comment.

As the campaign's veterans liaison, Swindle helped the candidate fend off attacks in South Carolina from a group called Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain, which said that while in captivity, McCain gave information to the North Vietnamese. Swindle countered the group's charges in a statement put out by the campaign: "Nothing could be further from the truth. I know because I was there."

He defended the senator's war record this spring after it was questioned by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.). Swindle also has appeared in several McCain campaign ads online.

But CAGW spokeswoman Leslie Paige said that in Swindle's role as a director, "there are absolutely no discussions related to the McCain campaign."

A new McCain policy on lobbying activity by his aides prohibits campaign officials from participating in any political group known as a 527, "or other independent entity that makes public communications that support or oppose any presidential candidate." The campaign did not respond directly to a question about whether the policy applies to Swindle, who is on the boards of CAGW and its lobbying arm, which endorsed McCain.

Last year, around the time he announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, McCain lauded CAGW's work and its president, Thomas Schatz. CAGW's political arm endorsed McCain in February.

Praise from the group has been built into McCain's campaign messages. "John McCain, named a 'Taxpayer Hero' by Citizens Against Government Waste, has led the fight against wasteful spending his entire career," his campaign Web site states.

And a campaign ad says: "He's been cutting wasteful spending for more than 20 years. That's why Citizens Against Government Waste calls John McCain a taxpayer hero."

Hazelbaker said McCain and the group have "a mutual interest in tirelessly fighting waste, fraud and abuse in government."

Paige said neither McCain's campaign nor his Senate staff influenced CAGW's decision to mount a public relations effort defending Northrup.

"Our recent statements on the subject are a consistent, natural outgrowth of the last six years of involvement in the issue and were inspired by nothing more than the contract award on February 29," she said in a statement.

In their joint campaign this year, CAGW and Northrop collaborated on a Northrop-funded Web site called America's New Tanker, which exhorted citizens to contact their lawmakers to support the award.

Northrop spokesman Randy Belote said the company has not donated any money to CAGW. "Northrop Grumman fully agrees with the position taken by Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) that encourages members of Congress to protect the integrity of the defense system acquisition process," Belote said in a statement.

CAGW has been criticized for accepting donations from organizations that benefit from its advocacy. Two years ago, investigators probing the activities of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff for the Senate Finance Committee examined whether CAGW advocated on behalf of Abramoff clients, including the Magazine Publishers of America, in exchange for donations. The committee concluded: "The e-mails show a pattern of CAGW producing public relations materials favorable to Mr. Abramoff's clients." The group denied those findings.