Watchdog group seeks ethics investigation of McCain (gambling earnings)

[catgirl]

Source: CNN

From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

-snip-

(CNN) – Ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, commonly referred to as “CREW,” has requested that the Senate Ethics Committee investigate whether Sen. John McCain failed to disclose gambling earnings as required by federal law and the Senate’s own rules.

-snip-

Citing recent press reports, CREW alleges that McCain failed to disclose income earned from gambling on the personal financial disclosure forms he’s required to file as a senator. “Given Sen. McCain’s history of gambling on a regular basis over the years, it is nearly impossible to imagine that he never won over $200, the amount that triggers the reporting requirement,” CREW’s request says.

In the event the Senate Ethics Committee finds that McCain failed to disclose any gambling earnings, the watchdog group asks that the matter be turned over to the Department of Justice for a criminal investigation into whether McCain knowingly and willfully failed to disclose any winnings.

The McCain campaign has not responded yet to CNN’s request for comment about CREW’s request for an investigation.

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/09/watchdog-group-seeks-ethics-investigation-of-mccain/

---

Palin and McCain are a good match!

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[pleah]

2. K&R They probably won't hear from them either. n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. I don't know. Everything has been coming up snake eyes lately.

Maybe he has never won, let alone $200.

[Wilber_Stool]

13. Bill Bennett taught him

everything he knows.

[complain jane]

4. YES! In this economy the last thing we need is a gambling addict running the show.

[catgirl]

5. Or a tax evader

If they find something, it could turn into a criminal investigation. If they hurry,
this will be top news before the election. It shouldn't be hard to find the
answers to McCain's earnings. Gambling addicts usually win once in a while.

The fact that he didn't declare anything.... ;-)

[aquart]

14. "Gambling earnings"????

Now why would McCain need a laundromat? And whose laundromat are we talking about?

[RoadRage]

6. Hmm... i wonder how many people even knew McCain had a gambling problem?

Yeah.. that's almost like as bad as doing drugs when you're 16.. and then writing a couple of books 20 years later and telling everyone about it. :eyes:

[leveymg]

7. This story's been out there for a while, but may be the knock-out punch.

See this article in July by a tax professor: http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/07/why-hasnt-mccai.html

Also, reported a week ago in Huff Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martha-miller/mccains-tax-returns-hide_b_131675.html?page=9

[mackerel]

8. I've never heard this before so if the story is out there

I don't think the average voter is hearing it.

[leveymg]

11. There were articles here and at DKos about it in July.

#
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[catgirl]

19. The OP is about a call for an investigation

This is new news.

[catgirl]

18. The request was sent Oct. 9

His gambling has been talked about, yes, but read the OP. This is much bigger.
They want an investigation of his tax returns....

[kskiska]

9. McSame at craps table: "DON'T TOUCH ME!…DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?"

by Michael Kinsley

(snip)

It comes in an email from my friend Jeff Dearth, a media investment banker and former publisher of The New Republic. We also went to junior high and high school together in Michigan. He would not make this up. In 2005, Jeff attended a magazine industry conference at a casino hotel in Puerto Rico. (I was there, too, though not a witness to what follows.) The guest speaker was McCain. He put on a terrific performance, breaking up the friendly crowd by referring to journalists as “my base.” (To anyone who remembers this period in McCain’s history, his attempt this year to paint Barack Obama as Britney Spears or Paris Hilton because Obama is now the media darling seems especially cheap.)

McCain’s game is craps. So is Jeff Dearth’s. Jeff was at the table when McCain showed up and happily made room for him. Apparently there is some kind of rule or tradition in craps that everyone’s hands are supposed to be above the table when the dice are about to be thrown. McCain—“very likely distracted by one of the many people who approached him that evening,” Jeff says charitably—apparently was violating this rule. A small middle-aged woman at the table, apparently a “regular,” reached out and pulled McCain’s arm away. I’ll let Jeff take over the story:

“McCain immediately turned to the woman and said between clenched teeth: ‘DON’T TOUCH ME.’ The woman started to explain...McCain interrupted her: ‘DON’T TOUCH ME,’ he repeated viciously. The woman again tried to explain. ‘DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU’RE TALKING TO?’ McCain continued, his voice rising and his hands now raised in the ‘bring it on’ position. He was red-faced. By this time all the action at the table had stopped. I was completely shocked. McCain had totally lost it, and in the space of about ten seconds. ‘Sir, you must be courteous to the other players at the table,’ the pit boss said to McCain. “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? ASK ANYBODY AROUND HERE WHO I AM.”

This being Puerto Rico, the pit boss might not have known McCain. But the senator continued in full fury—“DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU’RE TALKING TO? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?”—and crisis was avoided only when Jeff offered to change places and stand between McCain and the woman who had touched his arm.

more…
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-09/john-mccain-shooting-craps-pissed-off

[humbled_opinion]

10. but, but, but,

Obama said he plays Poker too....

Just Sayin.

[old mark]

12. Should be a short report :

McCain searched for ethics, none found.


mark

[fascisthunter]

15. Move Over Acorn... here's a Chesnut!!!!

[L. Coyote]

16. "John, meet Ted Stevens. He will be your cell mate" "I know Ted, Sarah's buddy"

[harmonicon]

17. I doubt he ever won anything

Except for a few startling congressional elections, this guy is a career loser.

[Jim Lane]

21. On the contrary, the math makes it almost certain that he had some winning sessions

His game is craps. The house edge at craps is fairly low, about 1.4% on the major bets, though higher on the bets aimed at the bigger suckers.

As a result, one would expect him to have more losing sessions than winning sessions, but still a fair number of winning sessions. (The exact percentage depends on how long he plays in each session and what his betting pattern is.)

I address sessions because that's how the IRS addresses it. If you stand at a craps table for an hour and walk away with a net win of $5,000, and then return the next day and blow it all back and lose an additional $2,000, then the IRS says you have reportable income of $5,000. You may claim your $7,000 loss the next day as an offset to gambling income, but not to offset other income unless you're a professional gambler.

Thus, if McCain had a set of results like that, and made no report of it on his tax return, he violated the Internal Revenue Code.

[harmonicon]

24. interesting

[Ian David]

20. John McCain has a chronic gambling problem.

[clixtox]

22. Fabulous Picture! It looks like the Senator doesn't have...

many chips though.

Another in an unbroken multi-year string of losing gambling sessions, no doubt!

The sign behind him does indicate the type of "change" McLamebrain is talking about!

[the blues]

23. I wonder if there were any criminals...

...in those casinos at the same time as McCain... guilt by association...:pals: