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McCain Lobbyist Story Has Tampa Connection

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By BILLY HOUSE and WILLIAM MARCH

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 21, 2008

WASHINGTON -- A New York Times story on a female lobbyist's ties eight years ago to John McCain has an important Tampa connection: She worked then and now for the firm of Hector Alcalde, a prominent Tampa-connected political figure.

The Times, in a story this morning that initially was posted on its Web site Wednesday night, raises questions about the relationship between Alcalde & Fay partner Vicki Iseman and McCain during a period when the senator was in his first run for president, in 2000.

The story recounts how McCain aides worried then about whether the two had a romantic involvement, and about the Arizona senator taking actions during that time that favored her clients with business before the Senate Commerce Committee, of which he was chairman.

McCain, 71, who is married, and the lobbyist, Iseman, 40, a Pennsylvania native, both say they never had a romantic relationship.

In a nationally televised news conference today in Toledo, McCain appeared with his wife, Cindy, to sharply refute the story, saying he never had an affair with the lobbyist and challenging the credibility of the Times.

"I'm very disappointed in the New York Times," he said. "It is not true."

McCain added that it also is not true that any of his aides ever had a meeting with him about their concerns over the relationship, as reported in the story. He did say he considered Iseman a friend but that he has a lot of friends who are lobbyists for various concerns.

"I'm proud of my record of service to this country, proud of my record as chairman of the Commerce Committee," McCain said.

Cindy McCain said of her husband: "He's a man of great character. I'm very, very disappointed in the New York Times."

Iseman's biography and photo remained posted on Alcalde & Fay's Web site. (The site was not accessible at 10 a.m. today.)

The Web site notes, "She has extensive experience in telecommunications, representing corporations before the House and Senate Commerce Committees."

Citing information from unnamed former McCain campaign associates, the Times said aides began to worry about the senator's relationship with Iseman in 2000 as news organizations were reporting McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of one of her clients.

Adding to those concerns, the story said, was that in February 2000 McCain and Iseman attended a small fundraising dinner with several of her clients at the Miami-area home of a cruise-line executive and then flew back to Washington along with a campaign aide on the corporate jet of one of her clients, Paxson Communications.

Citing the anonymous sources, the story said top McCain advisers became convinced the relationship had become romantic and intervened, instructing staff to block her access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him.

They warned McCain that even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the committee threatened to harm his career, the story said.

McCain is reported by the Times to have told the newspaper that the relationship was not romantic and that he never showed favoritism to Iseman or her clients.

"I have never betrayed the public trust by doing anything like that," the Times quoted McCain. He made the statements in a call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The New York Times, to complain about the paper's inquiries.

Alcalde, who now lives in the Washington area, long has been prominent in Tampa politics. He was chief of staff for former U.S. Rep. Sam Gibbons of Tampa. He also was a graduate of the University of Tampa and member of the college's board and a prominent lobbyist who has represented local governments including Hillsborough County and Tampa. He is listed on the Arlington, Va.-based Alcalde & Fay's Web site as the firm's founder and chairman.

Despite his Democratic roots, in recent years Alcalde has contributed heavily to Republicans including former Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. Charlie Crist, state Sen. Ronda Storms, Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman, and U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis and Adam Putnam.

Alcalde could not be reached late Wednesday.

Iseman's partners at Alcalde & Fay include L.A. "Skip" Bafalis, a former Republican congressman from Florida.

The Times reported that Iseman represented telecommunications companies for Alcalde's firm and McCain's commerce committee was pivotal to those clients. Her clients contributed tens of thousands of dollars to his campaigns, the story said.

A champion of deregulation, 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 Iseman's clients, the newspaper said.

McCain also introduced a bill to create tax incentives for minority ownership of stations; 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, the Times reported.

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

McCain complied, the newspaper reported. He sent two letters to the commission, drawing a rare rebuke for interference from the FCC's chairman, the Times said.

The Times said that McCain's aides released all his letters to the FCC to dispel accusations of favoritism and that aides said the campaign had properly accounted for four trips on the Paxson plane. But the campaign did not report the flight with Iseman, the newspaper reported.

McCain's advisers say he was not required to disclose the flight, but ethics lawyers dispute that.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at bhouse@tampatrib.com or at (202) 662-7673. Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.

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