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Sen. John McCain Returns Donations

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Sen. John McCain has returned $20,000 in campaign contributions from two Texas businessmen after learning they are being investigated for possible tax infractions.

The contributions to Straight Talk America – McCain’s leadership political action committee – were made by billionaire brothers Sam and Charles Wyly, Sam’s wife and Charles’ son.

The donations had drawn attention because the brothers had bankrolled an anti-McCain campaign when the Arizona Senator sought the Republican nomination for president in 2000.

The Wylys funded Republicans for Clean Air, a group that attacked McCain for his environmental record during the campaign – an attack largely regarded as an effort to aid then-Texas Gov. George Bush, according to the Washington Post.

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The Wylys are the subject of state and federal investigations into their transfer of money from stock options to offshore family trusts. More than three dozen companies may have used the accounts to avoid paying income taxes on the options, the Internal Revenue Service has alleged.

Craig Goldman, executive director of Straight Talk America, told the Post: "Once that was discovered, we have a policy internally not to accept contributions from people in that situation, so the checks were returned.”

© 2006 Associated Press.

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