LA Times: Bush Campaign Lawyer Resigns

WASHINGTON — The senior legal advisor to President Bush's reelection campaign resigned today, citing the controversy stirred by his dual role of representing the president's political organization and the advice he gave to a group of veterans (Swift Boat Veterans for Truth) that has challenged Sen. John F. Kerry's military record.

The campaign's national counsel, Benjamin L. Ginsberg, said in a letter to Bush that while his advising the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "was entirely within the boundaries of the law," he did not want the fact that he helped the group to "distract from the real issues upon which you and the country should be focusing."

Federal campaign law prohibits a candidate's campaign organization and independent groups supporting candidates from coordinating their activities. Kerry filed a formal complaint last week with the Federal Election Commission alleging that there had been illegal coordination in connection with the veterans' advertising.

The advertising effort appeared to set the Kerry campaign off its stride, forcing it to engage in a protracted defense of a war record on which it had been banking to build up the candidate's credentials as a potential commander in chief.

And the veterans group appeared to be scoring some points: While the Democrat's defense, slow to get off the ground, sought to answer the allegations point by point, his standing among veterans began to drop — 18 percentage points in a recent CBS News poll.


By James Gerstenzang,
Times Staff Writer