larry
>From this morning's Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29821-2004Aug24.html
Bush-Cheney Lawyer Advised Anti-Kerry Vets
By Dana Milbank and Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 25, 2004; Page A01
CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 24 -- A top lawyer in President Bush's reelection
campaign acknowledged Tuesday that he has been advising the veterans
group seeking to discredit Democratic presidential nominee John F.
Kerry's military record, an admission the Kerry campaign said is
evidence the president's campaign is orchestrating a "smear" by the
private group.
Benjamin L. Ginsberg, the chief outside counsel to the Bush campaign
who also has advised Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said in an
interview: "I've done some work for them. . . . The law lets lawyers
do that . . . and does not include lawyers among the coordinated
political activities" that are prohibited by federal election law. He
said two prominent Democratic lawyers are doing the same thing.
Other election lawyers agreed that the fact that Ginsberg, who also
was active in Bush's 2000 campaign, has been giving legal advice to
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth does not necessarily violate campaign
finance law prohibiting collusion between campaigns and independent
groups. But Ginsberg's dual roles complicate the Bush campaign's
effort to rebut as "frivolous" Kerry's complaint that it is behind the
Swift boat ads.
Asked about the Ginsberg matter Tuesday night, Bush campaign spokesman
Steve Schmidt said: "There has been no coordination at any time
between Bush-Cheney '04 and any 527 organization."
The veterans group's advertisements casting doubt on Kerry's Vietnam
War decorations have turned the senator's earning of a Silver Star, a
Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts during four months of duty in
Vietnam into a dominant election issue this month. The Kerry campaign
has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission charging
illegal coordination between the Bush campaign and the group, known as
a 527.
The 527s are nonprofit political groups named for a section of the tax
code that covers them. They may raise and spend unlimited amounts of
unregulated, or "soft," money from individuals, businesses and unions
to run issue ads in federal elections. But the law prohibits 527
groups from coordinating their activities with individual political
campaigns or political parties.
The type of work Ginsberg has done has not been deemed improper by
Kerry's campaign. The law firm of Perkins Coie represents the Kerry
campaign, and Robert Bauer, an election lawyer at the firm, represents
the anti-Bush 527 group America Coming Together, which has been
mobilizing voters for Kerry.
Ginsberg said that Joseph Sandler is a lawyer for both the Democratic
National Committee and for the independent group MoveOn.org, which has
run advertisements attacking Bush.
Bush on Monday said he is opposed to all advertising by 527 groups --
most of which has favored Kerry -- but would not specifically condemn
the Swift boat veterans' advertisements.
In a letter Monday to the FEC, Tom Josefiak, general counsel to the
Bush-Cheney campaign, said Kerry's complaint is "frivolous" and
"baselessly alleging illegal coordination" between the two groups.
Josefiak said the "complaint should be promptly dismissed." The
campaign also contacted stations that might air a Kerry ad alleging a
smear to warn of possible libel.
The Kerry campaign jumped on Ginsberg's admission Tuesday night. "If
the Bush campaign truly disapproved of this smear, their top lawyer
wouldn't be involved with the Swift boat veterans group,'' Kerry
campaign spokesman Chad Clanton said.
Ginsberg said that a group of "decorated Vietnam War veterans came to
me and said, 'We have an important point to get out in the debate
under the First Amendment, the American right of free _expression_. . .
. Help us,' they said, and I did."
In the interview, he said he did not participate in strategy planning
or in the development of messages, and did not discuss Bush campaign
activities with the Swift boat veterans, or vice versa. His
relationship to the Swift boat group was first reported by the
Associated Press.
On Saturday, the Bush campaign dismissed from its veterans steering
committee a volunteer and Vietnam veteran, retired Col. Kenneth
Cordier, who appeared in a Swift boat veterans ad. The campaign said
Cordier had not previously disclosed his participation with the Swift
boat group.
Democrats also said their allegation of collusion was supported by a
flier at a Bush-Cheney office in Florida promoting a Swift boat event,
and by close relationships in the past between backers of the veterans
group and Bush aides such as political adviser Karl Rove.
Don Simon, an election-law expert with the campaign finance watchdog
group Democracy 21, said Ginsberg's dual role "is not per se
coordination" between the Bush campaign and the veterans group. That
would occur only if Ginsberg has been transferring information between
the two -- a question that likely would not be resolved before the
election even if the FEC chooses to investigate the matter. But, Simon
said that "as a matter of common sense, it certainly raises
questions."
Larry Noble, who runs the Center for Responsive Politics watchdog
group, said the Ginsberg situation is not by itself improper, but
"when you're looking at common lawyers, it adds another level to it."
Edsall reported from Washington.
� 2004 The Washington Post Company
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