Cindy McCain, Potential First Lady and Former Drug Addict
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Cindy McCain, age 54, is the second wife of Senator John McCain.
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She was the only child of James and Marguerite Hensley who founded one of the largest Anheuser-Busch distributors in the United States, Hensley & Company, in 1955.
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Cindy attended the University of Southern California where she received an undergraduate degree in education and a masters in special education.
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She met and began an affair with John McCain at a military reception in 1979 where he served as the US Navy Liaison to the United States Senate.
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At the time John McCain was still married to Carol Shepp McCain. One month after his divorce from Carol in 1980 he and Cindy were married.
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In 1988 Cindy formed a non-profit organization called American Voluntary Medical Team that arranged trips for medical providers to provide emergency care to third world countries.
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The following year in 1989 Cindy McCain developed an addiction to Percocet and Vicodin which she later blamed on back pain and the emotional stress of she and John's involvement in the Keating Five Scandal that erupted after he had served just three months of his first Senate term. John McCain was the only Republican of the five Senators involved in the scandal.
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Cindy's addiction led her to steal drugs from the American Voluntary Medical Team.
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This led to the layoff of Tom Gosinski, an employee of the American Voluntary Medical Team, a subsequent wrongful termination lawsuit, an intervention by Cindy's parents and a federal investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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When the Phoenix Times was prepared to bring Cindy's addiction into the public light she granted interviews to the press explaining her problem.
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The federal investigation was resolved with financial restitution and Cindy's participation in a "diversion program"
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American Voluntary Medical Team ceased operations in 1994.
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The following year Cindy formed a new non-profit, the Hensley Family Foundation, a charity that donates money towards children's programs.
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Then, after her father's death in 2000, Cindy became Chairwoman of her family's $300 million dollar beer distributor, Hensley & Company.
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In April of 2004 Cindy had to a near fatal stroke as the result of high blood pressure. The only long lasting effects reported were short-term memory loss and difficulty writing, neither of which stop her from supporting her husband in his Presidential Campaign.
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Pretty good synopsis of a subject that too few people understand. It is the corruption of power point that is most interesting as Cindy never even bothered to go to rehab. |
