(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-03 20:31

Beer wholesalers and other businesses tried unsuccessfully to block a campaign finance law that McCain co-sponsored banning corporate contributions to the national Democratic and Republican parties. On another top business issue, the estate tax, McCain has supported cuts but opposes permanent repeal. Beer wholesalers contend a repeal would help save family businesses like Hensley.

Cindy McCain became chairwoman of Hensley in 2000 around the time of her father's death. She previously served as a vice president and director of the company.

"She is regarded as a serious businesswoman," said Art Pearce, a Hensley competitor in Phoenix until he sold his family's Coors beer distributorship in 2004. Pearce said he worked with Cindy McCain on tax and recycling issues in Arizona. "We were major competitors, but she was open-minded and listened to issues, and I couldn't have asked for anybody better to deal with, really."

Pearce said she scaled back her involvement in state beer issues after John McCain was elected to Congress.

Still, Cindy McCain remained involved in Hensley as her husband began his presidential campaign. A company photo last year shows her posing with a shovel at a groundbreaking ceremony for a distribution facility in Chandler, Ariz. Hensley declined to say whether she will step down if she becomes first lady.

Cindy McCain's assets go beyond the family beer company.

She and her children own a minority stake in the Arizona Diamondbacks. The professional baseball team's chief executive, Jeff Moorad, and former majority owner Jerry Colangelo are McCain fundraisers. Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, a former Diamondback player, appeared in a New Hampshire campaign advertisement for McCain.

Assets held by Cindy McCain alone or with her children also include Anheuser-Busch stock; two condominiums along the California coast worth a total of at least $3 million and Arizona investments in rental medical offices and a parking lot, according to property records and John McCain's latest financial disclosure reports.

John McCain has seven ch1ildren: two stepsons and a daughter from his first marriage, and two sons, a daughter and an adopted daughter from his second. McCain's financial disclosure reports do not identify the children who share assets with Cindy McCain.

Arizona is a community property state, so McCain may share possessions his wife didn't inherit, such as their primary home. Cindy McCain, through a family trust, sold the family mansion in Phoenix for $3.2 million and bought a $4.6 million Phoenix condo in 2006. The couple may also jointly own a condo in Arlington, Va., assessed at $847,800. McCain's campaign and Hensley declined to say whether the couple has communal property.

John McCain held a barbecue recently for reporters at a two-story cabin near Sedona, Ariz., that sits on 15 acres owned by his wife's family trust and a real estate partnership in her name. The property includes four single-family homes and is worth nearly $1.8 million.

It's clear the rustic retreat is considered family property. The cabin features artwork by the McCain children and editorial cartoons depicting McCain. A doormat reads: "GEEZER (formerly known as `Stud Muffin') Lives Here." The amenities include a soda fountain and, of course, a Budweiser beer tap.

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