he Bush campaign's top outside lawyer said he had given legal advice to the group of veterans attacking Senator John Kerry's Vietnam War record and antiwar activism in a book, television commercials and countless appearances on cable news programs.Posted on 08/24/2004 7:25:49 PM PDT by conservative in nyc
he Bush campaign's top outside lawyer said he had given legal advice to the group of veterans attacking Senator John Kerry's Vietnam War record and antiwar activism in a book, television commercials and countless appearances on cable news programs.
The lawyer, Benjamin L. Ginsberg, said that the group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, called him in July to ask for his help and that he agreed. He said he had yet to work out payment details with the group and that he might consider doing the work pro bono.
Mr. Ginsberg, the chief outside counsel to the Bush-Cheney re-election effort, agreed to an interview after several telephone calls to him and the campaign asking that he explain his role. He said he was helping the group comply with campaign finance rules and his work was entirely separate from his work for the president. President Bush has called for an end to advertising by all groups like that of the Swift boat veterans, called 527's for the section of the tax code that created them.
The campaign of Senator John Kerry has shared the same legal unit of Perkins, Coie, which is run by Robert Bauer, as America Coming Together, a liberal group organizing a huge multimillion-dollar get-out-the-vote drive that is far more ambitious than the Swift boat group's activities. Mr. Ginsberg said his role was no different from that of Mr. Bauer's.
Mr. Bush's campaign aides have repeatedly said they have no connection to the group, almost all of whose challenges to Mr. Kerry and his war record have been contradicted by official war records and even some of its members' own past statements. Scott Stanzel, a Bush spokesman, said, "There has been no coordination at any time between Bush-Cheney '04 and any 527."
Mr. Ginsberg, a prominent elections lawyer, was a senior lawyer for the Bush organization during the Florida recount that followed the 2000 election and once served as general counsel to the Republican National Committee. He said he had no involvement in the message or strategy of the Swift boat group, and said he had no reason to believe that Mr. Bush knew of his involvement.
"The truth is there are very few lawyers who work in this area - it's sort of natural that people do come to the few of us for the work," Mr. Ginsberg said. "What happened was a month or so ago some decorated Vietnam vets came to me and said, 'We have an important point of view to enter into the debate. There's a new law that's complicated and we want help complying with the law.' " He added, "I have given them some legal compliance."
Mr. Kerry has gone on the offensive over the group's activities, saying it is "a front" for Mr. Bush's campaign and repeatedly calling on the president to repudiate an advertisement from the group attacking his record. Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who is also a decorated war veteran, has also called on Mr. Bush to repudiate the ads.
The 527 groups are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as they do not coordinate their activities with federal campaigns or political parties. Campaign finance rules do not prohibit lawyers from working for both outside groups and campaigns because they are not considered strategists.
Mr. Bush has declined to take on the group directly but repeated this week that he believes that all outside groups should stop advertising.
Mr. Ginsberg had been at the forefront of pressing the legal case against Democratic 527's, which have spent more than $60 million on advertisements against President Bush.
In complaints against the groups, Republican lawyers have noted that Harold M. Ickes, who has helped organize America Coming Together and The Media Fund, both 527 groups, also sits on the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee. The chairman of the Democratic convention, the New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, has been an adviser to another 527 group running advertisements, the New Democrat Network. Jim Jordan, a spokesman for The Media Fund, was Mr. Kerry's campaign manager until he was forced to resign last November.
Mr. Ginsberg said he decided to help Republican groups after the Federal Election Commission declined to act on complaints that the Democrats were coordinating.
"At that point I was more than happy to help all Republican groups comply with the law so that there wasn't unilateral disarmament," Mr. Ginsberg said.
A frequent partner of Mr. Ginsberg's, Chris LaCivita, is also working for the group, advising them on media strategy. Mr. LaCivita was political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2002, and now works for DCI Group, a Washington political strategy firm whose partners include Charles Francis, a longtime friend of President Bush's from Texas and Tom Synhorst, an adviser to the Bush campaign in 2000, who was key architect of the campaign's effort in the Iowa caucuses. But Mr. LaCivita said Tuesday that he worked as a private contractor for both DCI and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and that there was no coordination between the firm and the group.
"Obviously I don't work for the Bush campaign," he said. Mr. LaCivita described his role as providing advice on dealing with the media and placing advertisements. Asked to describe how close his involvement was, or how Mr. Ginsberg was involved, Mr. LaCivita referred calls to a spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Mr. LaCivita and Mr. Ginsberg both have also been involved with Progress for America, a nonprofit group that calls itself the leading organization pushing a conservative agenda.
Mr. Ginsberg did not say how frequently he consulted with the group.
This is the second time in recent days that an individual associated with the Bush re-election effort has acknowledged working with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. On Sunday, the campaign confirmed an allegation first made by the Kerry campaign that Kenneth Cordier, who appears in the second of two ads by the veterans' group, had been a member of the Bush campaign's veterans advisory committee. The campaign said that it had not known that Mr. Cordier, a retired colonel serving as a volunteer, was going to be in the ad, and that he had resigned as a result of it.
Mr. Kerry's campaign earlier this week filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging collaboration between the Bush campaign and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which would violate the laws governing the 527's.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has portrayed itself as an organic group of veterans opposed to Mr. Kerry, and Tuesday, the chairman of the Federal Election Commission defended their right to advertise. But the group has gradually acknowledged various ties to people close to the Republican Party and the Bush campaign.
"It's another piece of evidence of the ties between the Bush campaign and this group," said Chad Clanton, a spokesman for Mr. Kerry. On Monday, the veterans group acknowledged that Susan Arceneaux, a longtime Republican operative, was working for it and had taken out the post office box that the group lists as its address. The group described Ms. Arceneaux's role, too, was "compliance."
Records also list Ms. Arceneaux as treasurer of the Majority Leader's Fund, a political action committee affiliated with the former House majority leader, Dick Armey of Texas, which like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth received significant financing from Bob Perry, a Texan who has long supported Mr. Bush.
Mr. Perry has given $200,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. He is listed as the co-host on an invitation to a fund-raiser at Tavern on the Green in Manhattan next week. The invitation list includes President Bush's chief political strategist, Karl Rove, The Dallas Morning News reported on Tuesday. Mr. Rove has acknowledged through a spokesman being friends with Mr. Perry.
A paper honestly concerned with objective journalism would have noted that BOTH sides had marginal connections with 527 groups. The Times, of course, is not an objective newspaper.
Oh my goodness...they had a GOP lawyer!! What do these idiots think...that they would trust a democrat?
Ginsberg has done a lot of work for a lot of people. He works for a top DC law firm. Are only Kerry's folks allowed to hire good people irrespective of their political stance? In Kerry Isle Vets are only allowed to use DemoncRAT lawyers appears to be the standard for NYT.
*yawn*
When they start looking at the OBVIOUS collusion between Kerry and the Democrat smear machine (MoveOn.org and the like), THEN maybe I could take them seriously. They are trying everything they can to discredit these vets while completely ignoring the obvious collaboration between the anti-Bush 527's and the Kerry campaign.
My husband, who isn't nearly the politics watcher as I am, thinks Kerry is a crybaby! All these ads that he, the Democrats and their smear machine have thrown at Bush and Bush stands firm, affirming his record and moving on. ONE 527 that targets Kerry and he whines like a baby! Yeah. I can see how he'll deal with the terrorists.
"Why, you! I'll ... I'll sue you! Stop calling me Ketchup Boy! You big meanies!"
Yeah. That'll strike terror in their hearts, won't it?
And John O'Neill is an admitted Democrat lawyer who actually wrote the book "Unfit for Command!!" Oh the horror!!
Can the DNC and Kerry at least put on the slightest pretense to hide their glaring hypocrisy??
I am beginning to think that another book should be written, titled "Too Damn Stupid to Command!"
Gosh, I heard that John O'Neill's sister's husband's, 2nd cousins' teachers's principal was a Republican.
*yawn*
When they start looking at the OBVIOUS collusion between Kerry and the Democrat smear machine (MoveOn.org and the like), THEN maybe I could take them seriously. They are trying everything they can to discredit these vets while completely ignoring the obvious collaboration between the anti-Bush 527's and the Kerry campaign.
My husband, who isn't nearly the politics watcher as I am, thinks Kerry is a crybaby! All these ads that he, the Democrats and their smear machine have thrown at Bush and Bush stands firm, affirming his record and moving on. ONE 527 that targets Kerry and he whines like a baby! Yeah. I can see how he'll deal with the terrorists.
"Why, you! I'll ... I'll sue you! Stop calling me Ketchup Boy! You big meanies!"
Yeah. That'll strike terror in their hearts, won't it?
Nothing about the DNC lawyer that also works for MoveOn.org is there?
I am sure that it's just an oversight. </sarcasm
They never contacted a liberal Democrat lawyer?!?!?
WOW!!! This is breaking news.
The "top outside" lawyer for the GOP?
In other words, he was a free lance lawyer who, as all lawyers do, take work from time to time from people who call their office.
Another hit piece by the Kerry Times.
The levels to which the MSM is going to try to discredit the SBVT is astounding. They no longer even bother to try to hide their rabid partisanship.
Talk about an endangered species.
That is SOOO Old Media.
You know John O'Neil is on record as stating he supported John Edwards for this election. Why does nobody run with the theory that this is all an attempt to get the top spot for Edwards. Just as much logic and evidence for that.
Reporters for the NYT should be annoyed and angered at every opportunity.
I used to get worked up about the painfully obvious bias at the Times. Now it just gives me a chuckle.
Are they going to notice that moveon.org has a former Democrat Attorney General working for them?
I used to get pretty worked up too...
Then I realized it was the NY Slimes, which no one reads anyway.
So I'm much calmer now!
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