McCain is letting the ethically-challenged off the hook

The DCCC’s Jesse Lee raised an excellent point yesterday about John McCain’s interest in the ever-escalating Jack Abramoff scandal. Namely, that McCain will pursue the matter, but only insomuch as it lets Republican lawmakers off the hook.

Senate Indian Affairs Chairman John McCain is walking a tightrope.

He has promised an aggressive investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, but insists he will not target other lawmakers linked to Abramoff, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

“I’m not going after Tom DeLay. It’s not my job,” McCain said. “If I was the chairman of the ethics committee, and somebody brought an ethics charge, I would go after that. But we’re not the ethics committee.”

The only thing I’d add to that is that McCain, who’s reputation as a “maverick” has been overblown to the point of comedy, has made commitments to Republican lawmakers that go well beyond just Tom DeLay. As Roll Call reported recently:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has assured his colleagues that his expanding investigation into the activities of a former GOP lobbyist and a half-dozen of his tribal casino clients is not directed at revealing ethically questionable actions by Members of Congress.

At a Senate Republican luncheon last Wednesday, McCain told the gathering that his own probe, being run through the Indian Affairs Committee, is simply looking into potential “fraudulent” activities perpetrated against the tribes by Jack Abramoff and his associates.

“It’s not our responsibility in any way to involve ourselves in the ethics process [of Senators],” McCain said Wednesday, explaining the comments he made to his fellow GOP Senators. “That was not the responsibility of the Indian Affairs Committee.”

So much for “let the chips fall where they may.”

Also keep the context of McCain’s assurances in mind. Earlier this month, the reports implicating Republican lawmakers in Abramoff’s scandalous web were everywhere. Indeed, the very day stories started tying Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), David Vitter (R-La.), and Bush Interior Secretary Gale Norton is same day McCain essentially told a meeting of the Republican caucus, “Don’t worry; I won’t go after any of you guys.”

Because of those stories — and several other news reports touching on Abramoff’s relationship with Members — McCain said he wanted to let Senators know that he was not trying to air any of their dirty laundry.

“There were all kinds of rumors that were flying,” he said. None of the stories were sourced to the committee and McCain said he played no role in them.

His investigation, in which a new round of hearings are expected later this spring, would continue to instead center on “where Indian tribes were defrauded,” and focus specifically on the $82 million that Abramoff and his public relations associate, Mike Scanlon, charged to six tribes over a three-year period, McCain said.

That’s good, but it’s sad to see McCain make a commitment to make sure his inquiry goes no further. I’m not even sure how this would work, exactly. If he’s holding a hearing, and the subject of how Abramoff’s scam started to encroaching on which lawmakers aided his efforts, what’s McCain going to do? Bang the gavel and end the hearing? “Oops, before we start making Republicans look bad, maybe this would be a good time to wrap things up.”

Ironically, McCain is working on yet another book, this one for families on the importance of character lessons. I’m assuming there won’t be a chapter on McCain’s handling of the Abramoff scandal.