Phoenix, We Have A Pro... The Cellular Customer You Are Calling Is Not In Service At This Time

All parcels of land owned by presidential candidates are not created equal. John McCain chose to spend time in Sedona, and not at one of his other, more cell-phone-towered properties.

So this pre-debate perambulation..Exclusive: Verizon and AT&T Provided Cell Towers for McCain Ranch   is a necessary diversion.

Read the story, and then McCain spokesman Brian Rogers's response.

"The temporary cell towers  placed by Verizon Wireless and AT&T near the McCain cabin outside Sedona, Arizona are just that -- temporary. Those moveable communication services were placed on location after Senator McCain became the Republican nominee in order to service Verizon Wireless and AT&T customers -- including the Secret Service and the national press corps. The campaign has been informed that the Verizon Wireless temporary facility was specifically requested by the Secret Service pursuant to their existing contract with Verizon Wireless, and that AT&T decided to install a similar one to service its customers during this period. These were decisions by the companies involved and the Secret Service, and not the McCain campaign.

"Neither of these temporary facilities relate to Mrs. McCain's previous request to Verizon Wireless, via the company's website and as a customer of Verizon Wireless, for the company to explore providing permanent service to that area. As the Post article noted, "'Mrs. McCain's staff went through the Website as any member of the general public would -- no string pulling, no phone calls, no involvement of Senate staff,' [McCain spokesman Brian] Rogers said."

Note well: According to the Post, the process to install the tower began before McCain was doing well....before his campaign ever envisioned asking for Secret Service.

 Did John McCain know?

"Senator McCain had no role whatsoever in the decisions by these two cell phone companies to provide temporary service near the McCain cabin in Sedona," Rogers writes in an e-mail. "The United [S]tates Secret Service did request such temporary coverage, and informed the relevant campaign advance staff that it had done so as part of its regular contract with Verizon Wireless."

It does appear as if the Secret Service's request did speed the project to its conclusion, but it's also fairly clear that the original request had nothing to do with the Service, and that Verizon was well on its way to building a tower by the time McCain became the nominee and reluctantly accepted the Service's services.

How much did the tower cost in total?  How many total people did it benefit?   Does the number of people who benefited comport with the average number of people served by other, similarly-situated towers?

S    Should the public expect presidential candidates to receive legitimate preferential treatment at certain times?  (They can board their own airplanes, for example, without getting magged, they get police escorts even before the Secret Service comes aboard, etc.) 

I      Is this a scandal? A nothing burger? Or something in between?

Comments

It's bad news for McCain in the sense that it's a distraction, and it'll take time to sort it out. The problem with the campaign explanation is when they say "AT&T decided to install a similar one to service its customers during this period." You can almost make the case for the Secret Service, unless, as you say, they asked for the towers before the SS were involved. But the AT&T tower explanation is purposefully brief, and that ain't good.

It's horrible timing, for sure, unless McCain shows photos tonight of dead girl / live boy.

Posted by Daily Shocker | October 15, 2008 8:01 PM

Not a nothingburger, but maybe a tofu burger. Raw tofu, ungrilled.

The McCains have money and influence. This we know. Even if it's an egregious abuse of McCain's position--and I don't think it goes that far--it is not how candidate A will help see us through these turbulent times, and thus will not break through.

The Secret Service request clinches that--even if they tried to get them earlier, getting them after SS request puts this in a normal "we'd all like better cell service, as did the McCains, but they didn't get it until the Secret Service made a request."

Posted by Deborah | October 15, 2008 8:03 PM

Won't affect anything at all other than correcting the false notion that McCain's desert estate is a "cabin" or whatever Jonathan Martin is calling it these days. It's a sign of wealth and privilege but I think it's way too mild to be seen as any sort of corruption.

There is one problem with that story, though. We're led to think that it's a non-starter in terms of ethics as, "Brian Rogers said the senator is not a regulator." However, I recall just a few weeks ago when Holtz-Eatkin was regaling the press about McCain's bold action to speed up regulatory changes in the wireless industry so that we could all have nifty Blackberries. McCain made similar claims in the response he submitted to ScienceDebate08. It's an unimportant and minor quibble, but it clearly shows how out of step the left and right hands of McCain's campaign are.

Posted by Zach | October 15, 2008 8:16 PM

Nothingburger deluxe.

By the way, if you're ever in Seattle, treat yourself to a Red Mill burger. Delicious.

Posted by Joel | October 15, 2008 8:27 PM

I am an Obama supporter who thinks this is a non-starter. Seems like most of the polls over the past 2 weeks indicate the voters are mostly focused on the economy, so I feel most won't pay attention to this. I agree with Daily Shocker that it is a distraction to the McCain campaign having to respond to reporter queries, etc.

Posted by Royce | October 15, 2008 8:56 PM

Elitist McSame. Just your down home GOP candidate with 30 casino industry lobbyists on staff. A vote for McCain is a vote for 4 more years of Bush/Cheney political appointees and their mysterious corrupt ways.

Posted by spinbuster | October 15, 2008 11:20 PM

Amazing, the press refuses to do any investigating on the many questions regarding Obama's alliances with unsavory characters but has no problem going after McCain on cell phone service.

Just when I think the press can't get any worse, they do. Sickening

Posted by Kate | October 15, 2008 11:36 PM

This story is a hatchet job, when a scalpel would have made more sense. I'm the PR guy for Verizon Wireless.

The WashPo story is wrong. We received a request from Mrs. McCain, but declined. Subsequent to that, the Secret Service made a legitimate request for a temporary tower for its work and Verizon complied as is required by our contract with the agency. The Secret Service request, made on May 28, specifically said it needed the service urgently and requested that Verizon “explore every possible means of providing an alternative cellular or data communications source in the referenced area and provide any short term implementation of any type as a solution in the interim.”

This election provides an historic opportunity to advance good government and restore honest and civilized political debate. Unfortunately, the WashPost piece only detracted from that goal.

JNels

Posted by JNels | October 16, 2008 8:09 AM

John McCain has spent decades carefully building up a Public Image, made much easier to do since his wife the BEER Heiress & her Daddy BeerBucks, had/have lots of CLOUT & cozy relationship with the Media, thanks to BILLIONS in Beer Commercial AD REVENUE profits raked in by Media Companies.

So the Corporate BigWigs, who tend to be REPUBLICANS, really LOVE to have John McCain in Congress, would LOVE to make him President-- especially since CINDY McCain has stated that she intends to run her Hensley Beer Empire, if John McCain is elected President, from the WHITE HOUSE ITSELF!

Which is a stunning statement: The FIRST LADY would be pushing DRUGS -- ALCOHOL -- while her Husband was running the Country, & spouting off all self-righteously about COLUMBIAN Drug pushers. What HYPOCRITES!

Is that really "Putting COUNTRY First", John? Sounds like putting the "SPECIAL INTEREST" BEER LOBBY First, to me! And what a Great ROLE MODEL for TEENS the First Lady will be, promoting drinking! Guess there won't be any "DARE" or "RED RIBBON WEEK" observance in a McCain Administration, probably will help PETE COORS try to get the DRINKING AGE lowered to 18!

Sen. McCain's reputation as a "MAVERICK" who takes on the Special Interests, doesn't get the kind of special favors just like all the other Senators, like Ted Stevens of Alaska, now under FBI investigation or like BILL CUNNINGHAM, "war hero" whose corruption was stunning, is hogwash.

You can put LIPSTICK on McCain's HOGWASH, but it is still HOGWASH, & McCain is just as much in bed with Lobbyists & accepting "legal" bribes like these CELL TOWERS is typical way Congress does their crooked business.

John McCain may accept LESS of these "legal" Bribes from Corporations than some in Congress, but that's because he has a "SUGAR MAMA" wife, who is a MULTI-MILLIONAIRE, so he sure doesn't have to worry about MONEY to support his JetSet, lavish "Elite" Lifestyle.

McCain doesn't need to accept rides on RJ Reynold's Tobacco Company's Private JET, like Tom Delay did-- heck, his WIFE has a Corporate Jet owned by her BEER Company, so he just flies on the Hensley's plane.

Compare him to JOE BIDEN -- he rides the SUBWAY TRAIN every day to work, when Congress is in session. He & OBAMA are the real deal, not McCain & Palin, & Voters are seeing this truth.

John McCain-- an ill-tempered fraud who if President would CRASH our Country like he recklessly crashed the planes he has flown, including a light aircraft he crashed after he came home from Vietnam! NOT "Fit for Duty" as Commander in Chief. Fit for the Retirement Home Shuffleboard or BINGO, and the GOP knows it!

PROUD NAVY MOM !

Posted by Peace Machine | October 16, 2008 10:56 AM