The truth behind the Cindy McCain drug scandal

by iraqivetwifeforchange | September 15, 2008 at 03:45 pm

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What I want to know is, why is it that no one went after her for causing so much media and reputation damage that is closed down the AVMT. And how can she say her actions did not compromise the AVMT? Has anyone actually done any investigations into whether children suffered as a result of her actions. Obviously they did, the program was closed down.

And what else strikes me funny about this, is that McCain charged the man with extortion for offering to settle his wrongful termination suit. One could argue he was wrongfully terminated. Not only was he going to blow the whistle on Cindy, but the budgetary problems were probably directly linked to drug shortages in the program which cost them money. Hello!

Prescription drug addiction
In 1989, Cindy McCain became addicted to Percocet and Vicodin, opioid painkillers, which she initially took to alleviate pain following two spinal surgeries for ruptured discs, and to ease emotional stress during the Keating Five affair.[38][39][39][40][41] The addiction progressed to where she was taking upwards of twenty pills a day,[15] and she resorted to having an AVMT physician write illegal prescriptions in the names of three AVMT employees without their knowledge.[38][42] In 1992, her parents staged an intervention to force her to get help;[22] she told her husband about her problem, attended a drug treatment facility, began outpatient sessions, and ended her three years of addiction.[39] Surgery in 1993 resolved her back pain.[39][41]

In January 1993, Tom Gosinski, an AVMT employee, who had discovered her illegal drug use, was terminated on budgetary grounds.[43] Subsequently, he tipped off the Drug Enforcement Administration, and a federal investigation ensued.[38][43] McCain's defense team, led by John McCain's Keating Five lawyer John Dowd, secured an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office for McCain, a first-time offender, that avoided charges while requiring her to pay financial restitution, enroll in a diversion program and do community service.[38][10][43] Meanwhile, in early 1994 Gosinski filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against McCain, which he told her he would settle for $250,000.[38][43] In response, Dowd characterized this request as blackmail and requested that officials investigate Gosinski for extortion.[38][43] In the end, both Gosinski's lawsuit and the extortion investigation against him were dropped.[38][39]

Knowing that the DEA prosecutors were about to publicly disclose her past addiction, McCain preemptively revealed the story to reporters saying she was doing so willingly: "Although my conduct did not result in compromising any missions of AVMT, my actions were wrong, and I regret them."[38][39][10]

Aftermath
AVMT concluded its activities in 1995 in the wake of the McCain narcotics prescriptions controversy.[33][38] That year, McCain founded a new organization, the Hensley Family Foundation, which donates monies towards children's programs in Arizona and nationally,[10] and she was largely a stay-at-home mom during the balance of the 1990s.[22] She also held positions as vice president, director, and vice chair of Hensley & Co.[30][29]

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Jarrett Martineau

at 15:52 on September 15th, 2008

Thanks for your recent posts. Please be sure to tag your stories with the appropriate channel. The Culture channel is a place for arts and entertainment stories. Your political posts, such as this one, would be a better fit in the World channel.

iraqivetwifeforchange

at 16:01 on September 15th, 2008

I believe that religious, political, and moral opinions are a huge part of culture. In fact, I would argue that most people would say that it is as much a part of our culture, as are our foods, our music, our arts.

There are huge cultural divides in our country, and it is never more present than in elections. And I don't see how one can separate the two.

I also have been sent private messages saying that politics is not a world issue. It is more a national issue. I disagree with that as well. Our Presidential leaders have a huge impact on the world.

Would someone please decide. It is getting too confusing.

World_Groove

at 16:53 on September 15th, 2008

Each channel gives an indication on its main page as to the type of stories to be submitted therein. I get it wrong often enough myself, and/or disagree with where it is said a story of mine should be placed.....

As to US Politics being a world issue... I both agree and disagree. I Strongly feel their should be a main-Politics only channel, and it should be kept out of the world section. But at present that is where all Political related stories are going.

René

at 16:20 on September 15th, 2008

You cherry-picked that story, left out lots, didn't you?

In 1992, her parents staged an intervention to force her to get help;[22] she told her husband about her problem, attended a drug treatment facility, began outpatient sessions, and ended her three years of addiction.[39] Surgery in 1993 resolved her back pain.[39][41]

Also:

AVMT concluded its activities in 1995 in the wake of the McCain narcotics prescriptions controversy.[33][38] That year, McCain founded a new organization, the Hensley Family Foundation, which donates monies towards children's programs in Arizona and nationally,[10] and she was largely a stay-at-home mom during the balance of the 1990s.[22] She also held positions as vice president, director, and vice chair of Hensley & Co.[30][29]

iraqivetwifeforchange

at 00:20 on September 17th, 2008

My post was on the impact of her abuse to this particular charity and why more wasn't done to look into whether her actions DID impact the children directly. From what I gather, John McCain made a deal where she gave money and did community service rather than face criminal charges.

This article was not about her other charities that were not involved in her drub abuse. I give to charity, it doesn't mean that it was relevant to this article.

World_Groove

at 16:50 on September 15th, 2008

Due to your lead in basically posing questions and making unsubstantiated accusations with phrases like "could argue" and "were probably" this should be titled an opinion piece in my personal opinion.

Since your story seems to be a partisan slam blaming McCain for "hurting Children" because she was working with a charity while dealing with her drug abuse of prescription drugs, I would be remiss If I didn't point out a few interesting tid bits of charitable giving.

Senator McCain donates his royalties from his books to charitable organizations. This sum has totaled over $1,800,000 since 1998 when he signed his first book deal. Senator McCain's book income of $256,898 for 2006 and 2007 is comprised of earnings for Faith of My Fathers, Worth the Fighting For, Why Courage Matters, Character is Destiny, and Hard Call. .

Beginning in 1991, Senator McCain has also donated the increase in his Senate salary for that year and each subsequent year to charity because he opposed the Congressional pay increase at that time and pledged not to accept the pay raises. The cumulative total of these donations is over $450,000.

2006

In 2006, Senator and Mrs. McCain donated $129,390 from community assets to charity, of which Senator McCain's one-half allocation was $64,695. This is 19% of his adjusted gross income.

2007

In 2007, Senator and Mrs. McCain donated $210,933 from community assets to charity, of which Senator McCain's one-half allocation is $105,467. This is 27.2% of his adjusted gross income for the year.

I think all in all she (they) did OK by charities, and God bless (any God...) anyone who spends time working with or for charitable organizations.

So speaking of Charity.... How did Obama and Biden do ?

Here is a chart of the Bidens’ giving for the years covered by the tax returns:

                    Adjusted
                    Gross Income              Charity

1998             $215,432                      $195

1999             $210,797                      $120

2000             $219,953                      $360

2001             $220,712                      $360

2002             $227,811                      $260

2003             $231,375                      $260

2004             $234,271                      $380

2005             $321,379                      $380

2006             $248,459                      $380

2007             $319,853                      $995

Total             $2,450,042                    $3,690

I think he could have supported one child per year in Ethiopia with that amount !

and on to Obama who did a little better but Far under the national average......

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle gave $10,772 of the $1.2 million they earned from 2000 through 2004 to charities, or less than 1 percent,

iraqivetwifeforchange

at 01:40 on September 17th, 2008

It was marked as opinion when I posted it.

Cindy McCain alone made well over $6,000,000 in 2006 by her own accounts. We don't know what she made in 2007. He is ranked by nonpartisan polls as being the 19 wealthiest congressman in the U.S.

They donated $80,380.00 in books sales for charity (according to his own tax return from drudgereport.com and another $129,390.00 jointly. He made $240,745 in 2006. She made $6,000,000+. I come up with $6,240,745 for 2006 for both of them in earnings and $209,780 in charities. Now, when I studied finance in college, that would have come out to about 3% roughly on the generous side.

I have not gone to verify the Obama and Biden tax return. Of course, I am sure that one could add all kinds of stuff to the list of charitable contributions, such as volunteering and community organizing. Or charities where money was raised on behalf of some cause where they volunteered or spear headed, etc. I mean, that list could go on and on.

But again, this was not about their other charities. I did not insinuate that Cindy McCain is not charitable. Why some decided to get off track on this is beyond me. I said that Cindy McCain's drug abuse had an impact on the charity she worked for at the time because it closed down shortly after the scandal broke. And no one got to count how many kids suffered due to lack o medicine and pills that she stole from the charity. John brokered a deal to avoid criminal charges before that could be done. So we'll never know I guess, unless someone decided to come forward maybe that was there at the time.

Regarding Factcheck.org..

Recognition

In 2006, FactCheck.org received the most votes among the The Top 10 Who are Changing the World of Internet and Politics, a poll hosted by PoliticsOnline and the World E-Gov Forum.[4] The poll, in which 18,000 voters participated worldwide, recognized "people, organizations and companies that are changing the world of Internet and politics." FactCheck.org was also awarded the 2006 Trophée International PoliticsOnline.[5]

Amongst the many people who have cited it as a reliable source, Dick Cheney is one such person.

Source: Wikipedia

World_Groove

at 08:18 on September 17th, 2008

Off track?, you mentioned charity and hurting kids in your story. I gave an example of Charity, including Obama's 1% and Bidden's .00x? percent and McCain's donation of all of his income from the Senate to Charity and all His Income from Books to Charity.

So now she "stole" from the charity ? seems a wild leap... do we still have that innocent before proven guilty thing here in America ? ....I thought she just had prescriptions written for her, not filled?

Amy Judd

at 16:40 on September 15th, 2008

Thanks for posting this. As your into is an opinion, could you mark this as an opinon piece? You can do that in the edit function.

Thanks!

master_jim2008

at 16:52 on September 15th, 2008

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that due to her drug addiction she now looks like she's had her face lifted so many times she hasn't got any meat left in her shoes?