McCain adviser paid by controversial businessman

Sen. John McCain's campaign on Tuesday distanced its foreign policy adviser from a longtime Republican fundraiser who paid the adviser $130,000 when he was a lobbyist. The payments by Texas businessman Stephen Payne to McCain adviser Randy Scheunemann, ending in 2006, were largely for lobbying Congress and executive branch agencies on energy issues, according to records filed with the Senate. McCain's presidential campaign says that Scheunemann did not lobby McCain on any issue relating to Payne, who is caught up in a controversy over whether he sought to sell White House access to a prospective business client. Payne faces a deadline of Wednesday to answer a House committee chairman's questions about whether Payne solicited donations for President Bush's library. The McCain campaign says that Payne and Scheunemann met in... [read full story]