Posted on Fri, Mar. 14, 2008

John McCain might be taking this maverick thing a bit far. I mean, sending good aviation jobs to France?

At least that's the charge from Boeing backers, who accuse the Arizona senator of helping Airbus get a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract at the expense of American jobs, including hundreds of them right here in the Air Capital.

Boeing supporters, looking for a villain in this economic defeat, have put McCain in their crosshairs.

"I hope the voters of this state remember what John McCain has done to them and their jobs," said Rep. Norm Dicks, a Washington Democrat.

Many Republicans, too, are unhappy with McCain's role.

Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, told The Eagle editorial board last week that he thought McCain was dead wrong on this issue.

"I'm going to learn to love him," Tiahrt said of his party's nominee, with as much conviction as he could muster.

But Tiahrt clearly wasn't feeling the love on this issue.

Take McCain's comment that creating jobs shouldn't be a factor in military procurement contracts.

Tiahrt begged to differ. "McCain needs to make a decision," he said. "I want him to come down on the side of American jobs."

For many Americans, it's that simple.

McCain, for his part, says he's simply worked hard to ensure a fair competition and the best weapons systems for our troops.

The attacks on McCain may backfire. After all, McCain was right back in 2004 to scuttle the previous tanker deal after he helped expose a bribery scandal involving an Air Force buyer and Boeing executives.

McCain's crusading arguably saved taxpayers billions of dollars and rooted out corruption in the procurement process.

Back then, Boeing's wounds were self-inflicted.

And it's possible the company simply lost on the merits this time around.

If so, that's not McCain's fault.

All sides perhaps should take a deep breath and wait for the General Accounting Office to review Boeing's formal protest -- a ruling is expected within 100 days.

Boeing's main objection seems to be that the Air Force allegedly switched criteria, telling Boeing that a smaller tanker would fit the mission and then rewarding Airbus for its larger plane.

If the Air Force has reasonable explanations for its criteria and evaluation process, then this will blow over.

Of more concern for McCain, though, are reports that he intervened to help Airbus in this latest tanker competition by persuading the Air Force not to disqualify or penalize Airbus for receiving subsidies from European governments.

Again, McCain says he wanted to ensure competition, but Boeing supporters rightly ask: How does ignoring Airbus' subsidies ensure a level playing field?

What could most hurt McCain, I think, are reports that several of his top campaign advisers worked as lobbyists for Airbus last year, during the height of the tanker competition.

Ouch.

Details of their lobbying haven't come out yet. There may be nothing improper in what they did.

But it again shows how McCain, who prides himself on independence and taking on lobbyists, has surrounded himself with staff members who seem to be embedded with the enemy.

That might be the biggest target on McCain's back.

Some have even asked whether McCain's bad publicity on the tanker deal could put Kansas in play this fall for a Democrat such as Barack Obama, who polls well here and has questioned the Airbus contract.

Obama might have a chance in Kansas, but I doubt that McCain's tanker role will be a major factor.

Chances are, the deal will have faded as a hot-button issue by the time the general election gets under way.

But it could return to haunt McCain here, if the perception persists that he helped tipped the scales in Airbus' favor.

Kansans like mavericks, but they also like jobs.

For now, though, the Democratic candidates are too busy mauling each other on issues of gender and race to turn their sights on McCain.

As Geraldine Ferraro might say, McCain's just lucky.

Randy Scholfield is an Eagle editorial writer. His column appears on Fridays. Reach him at 316-268-6545 or rscholfield@wichitaeagle.com.