Mccain Denies Pushing Fcc On Paxson Behalf

GOP presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain contends that a letter he wrote urging the FCC to act on Paxson Communication's attempted purchase of a Pittsburgh TV station was an effort to speed up a notoriously slow agency and was not intended to sway its decision in favor of a major campaign benefactor.

"The FCC is notoriously the worst bureaucracy in Washington with the most power," McCain told the Associated Press. "They don't act. They're classic bureaucrats."

Answering questions about a published report on the matter, he said all such actions by him now are "under this cloud" because of his outspoken criticism of the campaign finance system.

The Arizona Republican chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC. In the Dec. 10 letter, he urged the agency to act quickly on a matter involving Paxson Communications. Paxson owns 73 family-oriented TV stations and has legally provided a private jet for McCain's use and coordinated $20,000 in campaign contributions, the Boston Globe reported Wednesday.

Paxson officials denied any link. The applications to purchase WPCB-40 was in bureaucratic limbo for three years and was supported by 70 other lawmakers, said Paxson spokesperson Nancy Udell.

"The only thing unusual is the length of time it took the FCC to make a decision," she said.

Republican rival George W. Bush, asked about the issue today in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said McCain is an honest man. "I won't question his integrity in any way, shape or form," Bush said, adding: "I think it's really important for people who are advocating reforms to live up to the spirit of reforms they are advocating."

McCain, told about Bush's response, later said simply, "I agree."

The letter probably "tipped the decision" by the FCC, clearing the way for Paxson to buy a Pittsburgh TV station, contended Angela J. Campbell, an attorney for opponents of the deal.

"Sen. McCain said, 'Do it by Dec. 15 or explain why,' and the commission jumped to it and did it that very day," Campbell told the Globe. The Commerce Committee oversees the FCC and votes on nominations to the panel.

The McCain camp denied any link between the FCC letter -- in which the senator asked each of the five FCC commissioners to state whether they had already voted on the matter or were ready to act by Dec. 15 -- and the campaign contributions. FCC chairman William Kennard in a Dec. 14 reply to McCain said it was "highly unusual" for the senator to write such a letter.

"I am concerned that inquiries concerning the individual deliberations of each commissioner could have procedural and substantive impacts on the commission's deliberations and thus on the due process rights of the parties," Kennard wrote.

McCain told reporters today that he simply wanted the FCC to act and did not suggest how it should decide the question.

"There will be other stories like this because whatever I did is under this cloud" because of his opposition to "soft money" campaign contributions, McCain said. "With increased traction you get increased visibility."

A McCain campaign statement said Paxson Communications makes its aircraft available to all 535 members of Congress. It also said 80% of U.S. business activity falls under Commerce Committee jurisdiction and "there is no evidence that John McCain has taken inappropriate action on behalf of a contributor."