Intellectual Property Law

The New York Times' front-page story today about Arizona senator John McCain's close ties to a telecom lobbyist is blanketing the blogosphere.

The story focuses on what it says are McCain's unusually close relationship with Vicki Iseman, a telecom lobbyist working for the law firm of Alcalde & Fay.

The most germane part for THREAT LEVEL readers is the level of influence that Iseman may or may not have had on behalf of her telecommunications clients. The Times' story says the record is mixed:

... He and Mr. Davis also said Mr. McCain had frequently denied requests from Ms. Iseman and the companies she represented. In 2006, Mr. McCain sought to break up cable subscription packages, which some of her clients opposed. And his proposals for satellite distribution of local television programs fell short of her clients? hopes.

The McCain aides said the senator sided with Ms. Iseman?s clients only when their positions hewed to his principles.

A champion of deregulation, Mr. McCain wrote letters in 1998 and 1999 to the Federal Communications Commission urging it to uphold marketing agreements allowing a television company to control two stations in the same city, a crucial issue for Glencairn Ltd., one of Ms. Iseman?s clients. He introduced a bill to create tax incentives for minority ownership of stations; Ms. Iseman represented several businesses seeking such a program. And he twice tried to advance legislation that would permit a company to control television stations in overlapping markets, an important issue for Paxson.

In late 1999, Ms. Iseman asked Mr. McCain?s staff to send a letter to the commission to help Paxson, now Ion Media Networks, on another matter. Mr. Paxson was impatient for F.C.C. approval of a television deal, and Ms. Iseman acknowledged in an e-mail message to The Times that she had sent to Mr. McCain?s staff information for drafting a letter urging a swift decision.

Mr. McCain complied. He sent two letters to the commission, drawing a rare rebuke for interference from its chairman. In an embarrassing turn for the campaign, news reports invoked the Keating scandal, once again raising questions about intervening for a patron.

Mr. McCain?s aides released all of his letters to the F.C.C. to dispel accusations of favoritism, and aides said the campaign had properly accounted for four trips on the Paxson plane. But the campaign did not report the flight with Ms. Iseman. Mr. McCain?s advisers say he was not required to disclose the flight, but ethics lawyers dispute that.

Recalling the Paxson episode in his memoir, Mr. McCain said he was merely trying to push along a slow-moving bureaucracy, but added that he was not surprised by the criticism given his history.

?Any hint that I might have acted to reward a supporter,? he wrote, ?would be taken as an egregious act of hypocrisy.?

The left-leaning Firedoglake's Christy Hardin-Smith immediately put the story in context by linking to a string of other stories that have run about McCain's ties to lobbyists, while Ed Morrissey, author of the conservative blog Captain's Quarters, focuses on McCain's response to the story. Morrissey says that the story won't hurt the senator's presidential campaign. Rather, it will rally conservatives around him.

What do you think?