On June 16th, John McCain was the first of the two major candidates to adjust his position on offshore oil drilling, reversing his previous support of a federal ban (Barack Obama has since also called for a relaxation of that ban in a more limited sense.)
The following day, according to the non-partisan group Campaign Money Watch, ten Hess Corporation Executives and family members donated the maximum legal contribution of $28,500.00 each to the joint RNC/John McCain fund. The big (but not only) question I have?
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The change in position or the money? It is perfectly reasonable for oil company executives to jump on the bandwagon of a candidate who is supporting their positions. However, if the money was conditional on the opinion, that would be something very different...and we also have to watch and see what happens when the numbers are reported for the time following Obama's announcement. If the donations were in response to the policy position change, as opposed to being a condition of it, than we should see some similar effect in Obama's numbers.
If we don't, it doesn't meant that McCain is crooked. At least, not as far as I know...
Ohhhh.... I'd best be careful. For a second, I started to sound like a Republican TV ad.
It gets better. A Hess Office Manager and her husband, an Amtrak employee, also gave $28,000.00 each. $57,000.00 from Alice and Pasquale Rocchio of Flushing, Queens. Apparently (according to FEC records), neither of the two have ever donated to a political campaign before each gave the maximum $2300.00 directly to McCain earlier this year. Alice Rocchio, when contacted by a member of TPM Election Central, said the contributions were from their own personal incomes.
The median income in the zip code where the Rocchio's rent their home is $58,069.00.
Is this a Sesame Street bit? One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong...
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