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• In October 1999, the wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Cindy McCain, confessed on national television that she was addicted to painkillers Vicodin and Percocet and indeed had stolen the drugs from her own non-profit relief organization, American Voluntary Medical Team.Salon.com: Cindy McCain ... outed for drug addiction (October 18, 1999)

  But long before that extraordinary event was televised on Dateline and Good Morning America, AVMT employee Tom Gosinski become concerned about McCain's use of drugs and spoke to the DEA. When he discovered in January, 1993, that Cindy McCain had been buying drugs in his name, he complained and was fired. Gosinski filed a wrongful termination suit, but did not make the issue public until John McCain's attorney John Dowd asked the Maricopa County attorney Richard Romley, a political ally of McCain, to investigate Gosinski for extortion.Salon.com: Cindy McCain ... outed for drug addiction (October 18, 1999)

  On September 10, 2008, Tom Gosinski released to the press hundreds of documents from the extortion investigation and his wrongful termination lawsuit, as well as extensive pages from his work diary from the AVMT. In those documents, he alleges that McCain used his political clout to blackball him from further employment in the Republican Party, and that McCain must have been aware of Cindy McCain's drug use.The Raw Story: ... alleges McCain hid wife's drug abuse(September 11, 2008)

• Fast Facts

  1. Tom Gosinski began talking to the DEA in July of 1992Salon.com: Cindy McCain ...outed for drug addiction (October 18, 1999)
  2. Cindy McCain and the AVMT were investigated by the United States Attorney's office, and she escaped criminal charges by entering a drug treatment program and paying for the investigation costs*Phoenix New Times: McCain:... Arizonans know — and loathe (August 7, 2008)
  3. Extortion charges against Gosinski were never filed, and Gosinski gave up on the wrongful termination suitThe Raw Story: ... alleges McCain hid wife's drug abuse(September 11, 2008)

• Related Pages on Mahalo

  John McCain DEA | Tom Gosinski | Cindy McCain | John McCain Scandals | Cindy McCain Vogue | DEA | Percocet | Vicodin | Drug Addiction | Dee Dee Ramone

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