McCAIN CAMPAIGN RELEASES NEW WEB VIDEO, “AN OFFICER AND A… LOBBYIST?”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Brian Rogers

Monday, June 14, 2010

(602) 604-2010

McCAIN CAMPAIGN RELEASES NEW WEB VIDEO, “AN OFFICER AND A… LOBBYIST?”

PHOENIX, AZ – U.S. Senator John McCain’s re-election campaign today released its latest web video, “An Officer and a… Lobbyist?” The video responds to Congressman J.D. Hayworth’s strange and offensive comparison of his record as a corporate lobbyist to Sen. McCain’s uniformed military service to our country in the United States Navy.

**Watch the new McCain campaign

web video here**

Last Tuesday, after the McCain campaign revealed Congressman Hayworth’s secret past as a lobbyist in TV and radio ads, the Hayworth campaign responded by bizarrely equating Congressman Hayworth’s stint as a professional Washington lobbyist for a Florida company to Sen. McCain’s uniformed service as Navy Liaison to the U.S. Senate.

The Hayworth campaign put out a statement from spokesman Mark Sanders that read in part,

“Remember [McCain] began his career in Washington as a lobbyist when he was appointed in 1976 as the Navy's liaison to the United States Senate. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black…”

Sanders again accused Sen. McCain of being a “lobbyist” in an interview with Fox 10 Phoenix later that day. And Congressman Hayworth himself repeated the charge in an interview with radio station 101.1 WZTK in North Carolina.

Of course, Congressman Hayworth’s accusation is more than absurd -- it’s demonstrably untrue.

It is quite simply illegal for active duty military personnel to register to lobby. As Navy liaison to the Senate, Sen. McCain was a commissioned officer, not a lobbyist.

Upon release of the new web video, McCain 2010 Communications Director Brian Rogers released the following statement:

“We know Congressman Hayworth never served our country in uniform, but you’d think he’d be smart enough to know that ‘lobbyist’ isn’t a rank in the United States Navy. Hayworth’s bizarre comparison of his stint as a corporate lobbyist to Sen. McCain’s military service is both pathetic and desperate. But no matter how hard the Hayworth campaign flails, they won’t distract voter from the fact that there’s only one Washington lobbyist on the ballot this August, and that’s J.D. Hayworth.”

– McCain 2010 Communications Director Brian Rogers