John McCain pushed through Congress a land swap that’s a bad deal for taxpayers and the environment but a good deal for his former and future staffers who got paid as lobbyists and for one of his big fundraisers.
Matthew Mosk of the WashPo has it:
Sen. John McCain championed legislation that will let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers.
Taxpayer ripoff: check.
Environmental disaster: check.
Lobbying checks for McCain’s once-and-future staffers: check.
Benefits to McCain’s fundraisers: check.
Participation by Cindy McCain: since her tax returns are secret, how would anyone know?
Just another carefree day on the Straight Talk Express.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman