Keller @ Large: John McCain's Important Role In Massachusetts Politics
BOSTON (CBS) - The sad news that a great American hero, Sen. John McCain, will forego further treatment for his brain cancer brings back a flood of memories.
McCain played an important role in Massachusetts politics over the years. His support for local Republicans helped elect Mitt Romney in 2002 and Scott Brown in 2010; their support for him helped him beat George W. Bush in the 2000 Massachusetts GOP presidential primary.
But perhaps his most significant interaction with us occurred on May 3, 2000, when McCain's Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held an oversight hearing about the egregious cost overruns on the Big Dig.
McCain kicked off the hearing by noting that "this project has suffered from gross mismanagement and what appears to have been a complete lack of critical federal oversight." And things went downhill from there for state pols and officials desperate to keep the feds picking up the majority of the mushrooming Big Dig tab.
At one point, McCain laid out his rationale for the cap on federal contributions he insisted be applied to the runaway project.
"The taxpayers deserve a law that says at some point this has to stop. This has to come to an end. Sixty percent completion, and we have already had a $10 billion overrun. I cannot do the math, but if that kind of overrun continues we are talking about a $20 billion expenditure, and that is unbelievable… every single time we appropriate and authorize more money those requesting the money say, 'Okay, this is it, don't worry, this ought to do the job,' and every time it did not. "
When the hearing broke for lunch, I was among a cluster of reporters who McCain stopped to speak with. By his side was then-Sen. John Kerry, a fellow veteran and longtime McCain friend who was desperate to try to minimize the overrun fallout and keep the federal dollars flowing. As the reporter questions got more pointed, McCain's critical rhetoric became harsher, to the point where Kerry was visibly upset and trying to distract McCain in what seemed an effort to calm him down.
But McCain ignored him. A principle was at stake, and McCain wasn't going to let anything mitigate his outrage as the abuse of taxpayer dollars the Big Dig represented, not even a treasured internal friendship.
Standing on principle on behalf of the taxpayers seems like an anomaly these days. That's just one of the reasons why McCain – a true leader in so many ways – will be sorely missed.