Bush campaign worker linked to SBV ad
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| Sun, 08-22-2004 - 8:19am |
Sat Aug 21, 2004 09:47 PM ET
By Jeremy Pelofsky
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - A Vietnam veteran who worked with President Bush's
campaign has left over his appearance in a commercial by a group challenging
Democratic candidate John Kerry's war record, a campaign spokesman said on Saturday.
Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Ken Cordier was a Bush supporter during
the 2000 election and served as a member of his a steering committee to help reach out to
veterans during this election.
"Col. Cordier did not inform the campaign of his involvement in the advertisement being
run by (Swift Boat Veterans for Truth)," Schmidt said. "Because of his involvement with
this 527 (group), Col. Cordier will no longer participate" in the steering committee.
The disclosure of Cordier's involvement came one day after White House spokesman
Scott McClellan and Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot denied the campaign
coordinated with the group on the ads, which claim that Kerry lied about his Vietnam
War service.
Kerry has called the ads inaccurate and accused the group of being a front for the Bush
campaign. On Friday the Kerry campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election
Commission seeking to force the ads' withdrawal.
New advertisements by the group are set to debut next week in states where Kerry has
touted his military service. Kerry won several medals and his record is often contrasted
with Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard during the war.
McClellan has refused to specifically condemn the ads and instead has urged Kerry to
join Bush in calling for an end to all commercials funded by unrestricted donations.
U.S. advocacy groups can collect vast sums of money to run their own political
advertisements but are barred from coordinating their activities with campaigns or
political parties.
"There seems to be an increasing amount of evidence that the Bush campaign is behind
this," Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer said. "So it's no surprise that the president
refuses to condemn these scurrilous ads."
The Bush campaign has said Kerry ignores the fact that his backers run attack advertising
aimed at the president.
Over the last 12 months, groups favoring the Democrats have spent $63.5 million on ads
attacking Bush, according to the Bush campaign, which filed its own FEC complaint
earlier this year alleging coordination between Kerry and the left-leaning groups.

That's what you get for "campaign finance reform".
"As long as the Bush/Cheney campaign did not DIRECTLY fund the ads, I don't see the problem.
Now if we could just apply this same standard to Kerry.....
"Because of his involvement with this 527 (group), Col. Cordier will no longer participate"
And bravo Bush campaign for stepping up to the plate! They did not know of his involvement, once they found out, they had
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~ ~ Follow your passion!:&n
Of course you can support which ever candidate you want, but I think that the rules state that if you work for a campaign, you have to keep out of also working for or on behalf of 527's. I could be wrong.