Marathon Pundit: Pol who John Kerry got into the Boston Marathon to be on trial soon for extortion

In 2003 State Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, found himself in US News and World Report when John Kerry dangled the offer of an entry into the Boston Marathon for McCoy, a runner who had not run the necessary qualifying time to enter the the Valhalla of running events.

From a Jewish World News reprint of the Roger Simon US News article:

Kerry, who can talk knowledgeably on everything from monetary policy to missile throw-weights, chooses a little more pedestrian issues for McCoy. "I hear you just ran the San Diego marathon," Kerry says. "What was your time?"

"4:16," McCoy says.

"That's great, great," Kerry says. "I remember my first Boston Marathon ... it's a great run. You've got to come to Boston and do it."

"I gotta qualify," McCoy says with a laugh.

"If you want to come and do it, I can get you a number if you want to run this year," Kerry says.

"Fan-tas-tic!" McCoy says. "That is dynamite."

"I mean, seriously, tell me serious if you want to do it," Kerry says. "'Cause I'll get you one."

Who says John Kerry is a frozen fish? Not Matt McCoy! "I think Iowa is looking great for you," McCoy says.

"Can I get you committed?" Kerry asks.

"Absolutely!" McCoy says.

"That's fabulous," Kerry says. "That's enormous. I mean, that is really huge. Thank you. You've made my day. Take care of yourself. And keep in training cause we're going to get you into Boston!"

Simon, not to be confused with Pajamas Media's Roger L. Simon, then writes that a Kerry staffer called McCoy the next day, letting the state senator know that he did get accepted into the 2003 Boston Marathon.

McCoy then tells Simon:

No, I could not have qualified on my own; I am a little too slow. This was Massachusetts-style politics.

McCoy completed the Boston Marathon the following month with at time of 4:52.
Iowa-style politics are more above-board than the Bay State's, and much cleaner than my state, Illinois.

But McCoy is allegedly doing his part in bringing down the reputation of the Hawkeye State.

In March he was charged with attempted with attempted extortion, as the Ames Tribune reported at the time:

McCoy is accused of attempting to use his elected office to extort money from Reid Schultz, the owner of an ADT security dealership Security Plus in Des Moines. The company had plans to sell home monitoring systems for the elderly to state agencies.

The indictment alleges, McCoy, 40, attempted to extort $100 for each installation of the monitoring systems.

Between December 2005 and March 2006, McCoy allegedly received $2,000 in cash and checks from Security Plus, money that had been supplied by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This is a fun story. This morning's Des Moines Register is reporting on McCoy's attorneys' attempt to get a founding member (No, not "Bowser") of the 1950's revival group Sha Na Na to testify for the defense.

Federal prosecutors will ask a judge to block a language expert who also was a founding member of the vocal group Sha Na Na from testifying in state Sen. Matt McCoy's attempted-extortion case.

Documents say former Sha Na Na member Robert Leonard, now a Hofstra University professor, is expected to tell jurors that McCoy was unaware of his business partners' "actual agenda" and therefore was manipulated during what he perceived as normal business talk. Those conversations were secretly taped for the FBI.

But later this morning, McCoy's legal team withdrew the request to have Leonard, who played bass for the group, to testify, the Des Moines Register reported.

McCoy hasn't run a marathon, according to MarathonGuide.com, since 2005, when he completed Grandma's Marathon in 2005.

Kerry, as my predecessor site Blue States for Bush and other bloggers pointed out, never officially ran the Boston Marathon (another Kerry fib). Kerry's presidential campaign staff made the claim, conveniently unverifiable, that he ran the race as a "bandit," that is, someone who didn't register and pay for the honor to run in the Boston Marathon. Kerry hasn't since made the claim that he ran the Boston Marathon, but in 2005, his daughter Vanessa did.

Related post:

Vanessa Kerry tops her Dad: Starts and finishes the Boston Marathon

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