US: The chief counsel to the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign resigned yesterday after it emerged that he had provided legal advice to the Vietnam veterans who have launched a privately funded advertising campaign attacking Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate.
Mr Benjamin Ginsberg's admitted involvement with the self-styled Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has undermined the Bush campaign's claim that it has had no connection with the campaign launched by the anti-Kerry veterans' group. The argument that has erupted over the past month following the veterans' allegations that Mr Kerry fabricated stories of courage under fire in Vietnam has so far worried Democrats more than Republicans.
Democratic advisers have voiced concern that the media coverage of largely unsubstantiated slurs on Mr Kerry's character have both compromised his war hero image and distracted attention from Mr Bush's record as President.
But Mr Ginsberg's resignation exposes a vulnerability for Mr Bush, reinforcing suspicions that the Swift Boat Veterans have been working with the Bush campaign's blessing.
In a letter to the President, Mr Ginsberg said that his work was "entirely within the boundaries of the law" but had become "a distraction from the critical issues at hand in this election". Mr Ginsberg has played a central role in Mr Bush's re-election effort and was one of his attorneys during the Florida recount in 2000, which delivered him the White House.
Mr Bush this week said he wanted to see an end to the Swift Boat Veterans' ads as part of a condemnation of the privately funded groups - known as 527 groups for the tax code clause that enables them to take unlimited private donations to fund political activities. Campaign finance laws prohibit any co-ordination between the candidate's campaign and a 527 group.
But Mr Ginsberg's admission that he has been advising the anti-Kerry veterans' group since July challenges the Bush campaign's claims that the Swift Boat Veterans are operating independently of the President's official re-election effort.
His resignation also follows media reports that have shown the close connection between Mr Bob Perry, a prominent Republican donor in Houston, and the Texas Republicans in Mr Bush's inner circle. Mr Ginsberg pointed out that his relationship with the Swift Boat Veterans' group was similar to the position of Mr Robert Bauer, who has advised America Coming Together, a 527 group aligned with the Democrats, even as his law firm was advising the Kerry campaign.
Even as Mr Bush has called for an end to what he describes as "shadowy groups", two Republican-aligned 527 groups have emerged this week, together committing $45 million to advertising in the next two months intended to discredit the Kerry-Edwards ticket and ensure Mr Bush's re-election.