Former Rep. David McIntosh (R-IN) is campaigning to return to Congress. On Tuesday, he will face several other Republicans in a primary for the GOP nomination to fill the open seat of retiring Rep. Dan Burton (R). A registered federal lobbyist, he hopes to spin through the revolving door back into the House. One lobbying client reveals a disturbing contradiction between his rhetoric and his actions.
McIntosh, a co-founder of the conservative Federalist Society and the executive director of then-Vice President Dan Quayle’s infamous Council on Competitiveness in first President Bush’s administration, left Congress in January 2001. That year, he became a registered lobbyist at the firm of Mayer Brown LLP (rules now require a one-year “cooling off” period), using his access and connections to advance the interests of a wide array of corporate interests including Pfizer, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Lockheed Martin.
In 2011, he registered as a lobbyist for the Royal Bank of Canada and, over the course of the year, the bank paid McIntosh and his Mayer Brown colleagues $300,000 to represent its interests.
Now, McIntosh is focusing much of his campaign message on his opposition to bailouts for banks such as President George W. Bush’s 2008 Toxic Asset Relief Program (TARP). He attacks two opponents for supporting “federal bailouts” and promises he’ll “never vote for a bailout.”
In one spot, he focuses on what he calls “really bad ideas” after the 2008 economic meltdown such as “bailing out companies, bailing out Wall Street with taxpayer dollars.” Watch the video:
The only problem: the Royal Bank of Canada’s American subsidiary, RBC America was among those banks receiving bailout funds. According to TARP records, RBC USA received a commitment of $270,000 in Incentive Payments for Home Loan Modification. At least $43,500 has already been given to the bank.
Either McIntosh is being insincere with his fiery anti-bailout bluster…or he was just happy to profit from that which he finds reprehensible.