SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH'S INITIAL AD GENERATES $400,000 TO PAY FOR MORE AIR TIME

Lexington Herald- Leader ^ | Aug. 15, 2004 | Tom Infield

[Roscoe Karns]

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE

A group of Vietnam veterans that is challenging Sen. John Kerry's claims of heroic war service says it received a flood of donations in recent days after advertising its contentions on television in three states.

The group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said it hoped to use the money to monitor Kerry's campaign travels and run ads in cities where he appears.

"That's our goal," said John E. O'Neill, a Houston attorney who's one of the group's leaders and co-author of Unfit to Command, a 251-page book being distributed by Regnery Publishing house. The book quotes Navy veterans as saying Kerry distorted his record as a river boat commander in Vietnam's Mekong Delta in 1968 to 1969.

Democrats have said the group is nothing but a Republican hit squad determined to besmirch their candidate.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is registered with the Federal Election Commission as a so-called 527 organization, not affiliated with any party. It got off the ground with a $100,000 donation from Texas homebuilder Bob J. Perry, a prominent Republican donor.

Roy F. Hoffman, a retired admiral and chairman of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said the first TV ad, which ran for one week in Ohio, Wisconsin and West Virginia at a cost of $550,000, got so much national news attention that it generated an additional $400,000 from 8,000 donors around the country.

"We are putting together the second ad," said Hoffman, 78, of Richmond, Va. As a Navy captain in 1968 and 1969, Hoffman commanded a unit of 1,650 sailors that included Kerry as a lieutenant.

Hoffman said the unit, known as Task Force 115, included about 16 swift boats and their crews, which patrolled the delta looking for Viet Cong and other enemy fighters.

"I knew Kerry pretty well," he said. "I did not ride his boat, but we operated very close together. ... I can't say I was a personal friend or buddy-buddy, but I sure knew him ... and I never felt he had the qualifications."

Kerry has made his war service the centerpiece of his campaign for president. His supporters include men who served on his boat, including a former Green Beret who said Kerry rescued him from the water while under fire.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth first gained public attention in May when its leaders -- including men who served on boats near Kerry's -- called a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington.

Hoffman said the group is not connected to the Republican Party. He said he hasn't been politically involved since leaving the Navy in 1978. Yes, he said, the group had taken cash donations from Republicans. But that became necessary, he said, because the news conference received little attention on network television and in national newspapers.

The group concluded that it needed to buy its own TV ad, he said. And that required money. Hoffman said of Perry: "We had our hand out, and he put money in it. ... As far as I'm concerned, he's a wealthy construction person. If he owns the money legally, I'm all for it."

The group reported $158,000 in donations as of June 30, its latest filing with the election commission.

Donors as of that date included O'Neill and Texas real estate developer Harlan Crow, also a Republican contributor. Each of them gave $25,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington non-profit that tracks political donations.

Current advisers include Creative Response Concepts, a public relations firm in Arlington, Va., that Mike Russell, a spokesman, said has done work for the Republican Party and "conservative-oriented causes."

[R. Scott]

Democrats have said the group is nothing but a Republican hit squad determined to besmirch their candidate.

Hanoi John has done a fine job of besmirching himself. The Swift Boat Veterans are only helping to publicize it.

[R. Scott]

"Apocalypse Now" - one of the least realistic comedies coming out of the Viet Nam War.

[Aliska]

include your occupation and employer

Why do they want to know that?

[varon]

bump

[MeekOneGOP]

bump!

[CyberAnt]

Well .. if the data is in the public domain .. then why aren't we publishing it here on FR?

Does the data have dollar amounts too?

I probably wouldn't recognize most of the names, but I suspect some people would be embarrassed to be found on that list.

[Tanstaafl]

Well...

They just got a nice donation from this Vietnam era sailor as well.

USN ETR3, 1972-75

[Antoninus]

Funny, I don't recall MSM articles that were this focused on the funding behind International ANSWER or Moveon.org.

The elite media is marxist scum. They can't become irrelevant fast enough.

[Antoninus]

The candidates can run ads until election day. 60 days before the elections all non candidate funded ads are supposed to cease. We'll see.

Actually, I think a lot of outlets are going to do what the NRA did--declare themselves part of the media. As such, they can't be silenced Constitutionally.