Cartoon unfairly portrayed McCain

On Sept. 20th, you carried an editorial cartoon by Ed Stein, which states "As a senator, John McCain consistently voted against regulation of the financial industry."

That is a lie. McCain co-sponsored the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005.

McCain addressed the floor on May 26th, 2006 and said:

"I join as a co-sponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole."

A large majority of Democrats and a few Republicans rejected the bill.

Stein, in his cartoon, also states, "Giant Wall Street investment firms are the biggest contributors to John McCain's presidential campaign."

While that is true, let's look at his contributions from Wall Street as compared to Barack Obama's.

McCain: Total from Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Lehman Brothers: $1,436,281.

Obama: Total from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, and Morgan Stanley: $2,272,000.

That your editorial page editor chose to carry this cartoon makes you complicit in these inaccuracies and innuendoes.

Marty Robinson

Prospect Heights