McCain ousted from Project Vote Smart Board for unwillingness to speak honestly about issues!

April 10, 2008 - Sen. John McCain, a long-time board member of Project Vote Smart, was kicked off yesterday for failing to provide information about where he stands on key issues.

Project Vote Smart (PVS), which aims to try to get past the sound bites to find out where candidates stand on issues, administers the Political Courage Test to pin folks down on exactly where they stand.

McCain, who's been a member of the organization's board for years, had always been good about filling out the survey - until this year, when his presidential campaign has failed to respond to repeated overtures over nearly a year.

Richard Kimball, the president of PVS who considers himself a friend of McCain's, and, incidentally, was the man who McCain defeated in his first run for the U.S. Senate in 1986, said the board voted weeks ago to give McCain one last chance to respond and, if he didn't, he would automatically be kicked off.

That deadline passed yesterday, with no response from McCain.

Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have also refused to submit their responses, but Kimball told us today it was a bit “embarrassing” for PVS that McCain, one of their own board members, refused.