WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Republicans are accusing new members of the U.S. presidential campaign of John Kerry of having suspect connections to anti-Bush 527 political groups.
Pollster Stanley Greenberg, former Hillary Clinton aide Howard Wolfson and ex-Clinton White House spokesman Joe Lockhart, who recently came on board the Kerry campaign, "were earning a living coordinating attack ads against the president at MoveOn.Org and other groups just last week," the GOP said.
Greenberg worked for MoveOn.org, the Media Fund and America Coming Together -- liberal anti-Bush groups -- while Wolfson and Lockhart worked with a company the GOP said "created attack ads about the Patriot Act for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation," a non-partisan tax exempt education and research group.
Coordination between political campaigns and the independent 527 political groups and tax exempt organizations is prohibited under federal law.
For their part, the Democrats have accused the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth of illegally coordinating its activities with the Bush campaign and the White House. Last month, Benjamin Ginsberg, a lawyer who had been advising the group and the Bush campaign, quit the Bush campaign to avoid the appearance of a conflict. Ginsberg's work for both groups is permitted under current law. His resignation, a source close to the Bush campaign said, was a political calculation rather than a legal one.
