Lobbyist sues Times over McCain affair story

Washington lobbyist Vicki Iseman is suing The New York Times for implicating her in a romantic affair with 2008 Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
 
In a 36-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., on Tuesday, Iseman’s lawyers say the newspaper defamed her and is asking for $27 million in damages. The complaint names The New York Times Co.; Bill Keller, the newspaper’s executive editor; Dean Baquet, the Washington bureau chief; and the four reporters who worked on the article that suggested the romantic affair.
 
{mosads}The Times said Tuesday that the Feb. 21 article is accurate.
 
“We fully stand behind the article. We continue to believe it to be true and accurate, and that we will prevail,” said Abbe Ruttenberg Serphos, director of public relations for The Times, in a statement. “As we said at the time, it was an important piece that raised questions about a presidential contender and the perception that he had been engaged in conflicts of interest.”
 
The article was about McCain’s efforts as a reform-minded senator and past ethics mishaps, including the Keating Five scandal.
 
The beginning of the piece describes how McCain’s aides were growing anxious over his closeness to Iseman, a lobbyist representing companies with business before the Senate Commerce Committee, which McCain was chairman of at the time. Some of the senator’s advisers were convinced the relationship had become “romantic,” according to the article.
 
Iseman and McCain, however, both denied they ever had a romantic affair. The newspaper soon faced enormous criticism for running with the story and was one of many flash points with the McCain campaign during the presidential race.
 
The complaint details much of the outside criticism of the article. It quotes extensively from a column by the newspaper’s public editor, Clark Hoyt, who said “if a newspaper is going to suggest an improper sexual affair, whether editors think that is the central point or not, it owes readers more proof than The Times was able to provide.”
 
Iseman’s lawsuit took those objections even further. The piece was “deeply destructive and tremendously damaging” to Iseman and damaged her reputation as well as her mental health, according to the complaint. Colleagues, lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides “changed their attitude to her” after the article was published.
 
In addition, Iseman’s lawyers allege that John Weaver, a senior campaign strategist to McCain before he resigned after a staff shake-up in July 2007, was not truthful with the newspaper’s reporters.
 
In the article, Weaver warned Iseman at a meeting in Union Station in Washington that she needed to stay away from McCain and stop talking about him. But the aide did not make that statement to Iseman, according to the complaint.
 
The complaint also notes that several other news organizations were investigating the story, such as The Washington Post and The National Enquirer, but did not print anything regarding an alleged affair between Iseman and McCain.
 
Michael Sandler contributed to this article.