Attorney Works for Bush, Anti-Kerry Group (Another One!)

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON - A lawyer for President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election campaign disclosed Tuesday that he has been providing legal advice for a veterans group that is challenging Democratic Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites)'s account of his Vietnam War service.

Benjamin Ginsberg's acknowledgment marks the second time in days that an individual associated with the Bush-Cheney campaign has been connected to the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which Kerry accuses of being a front for the Republican incumbent's re-election effort.

The Bush campaign and the veterans' group say there is no coordination.

The group "came to me and said, 'We have a point of view we want to get into the First Amendment debate right now. There's a new law. It's very complicated. We want to comply with the law, will you keep us in the bounds of the law?'" Ginsberg said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I said yes, absolutely, as I would do for anyone."

(snip)

Ginsberg also represented the Bush campaign in 2000 and became a prominent figure during the Florida recount.

more…
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&u=/ap/20040824/ap_on_el_pr/veterans_group_bush_2&printer=1

[grasswire]

1. hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Remember this freak from the Clinton impeachment? Scruffy, eyes go in different directions? Benjamin Ginsberg. Ain't it cool.

[kskiska]

4. I remember him well

He's the creep who can't make eye contact with the camera. Keeps his head down all the time.

He's the guy on the left.

[Proud2BAmurkin]

13. Oh yeah THAT freak

Remember that scumbag

[Ducks In A Row]

20. so what did the freak do during the impeachment?

hope he gets a big fine for this treacherous behavior

[movonne]

2. Rate this story, already been freeped...

[Beefeater]

5. from the same story

Joe Sandler, a lawyer for the DNC and a group running anti-Bush ads, MoveOn.org, said there is nothing wrong with serving in both roles at once.


In addition to the FEC's coordination rules, attorneys are ethically bound to maintain attorney-client confidentiality, Sandler said. They could lose their law license if they violate that, he said.

[Trajan]

7. Joe Sandler could be wrong ....

Im quite sure of that ....

[mac56]

15. Maybe not illegal

But certainly not wise.

[Pachamama]

31. Really? Where did you hear that? I haven't heard that one? Please, do

tell us your source on that one? And is Joe Sandler really a lawyer for both the DNC and MoveOn.org? Or is it more like that Joe Sandler works for a law firm with MANY LAWYERS that happens to also represent MoveOn.org? Hmmmmm......I wonder?

[IdaBriggs]

3. And proof of coordination would be ... ?

I don't know -- secret Nixon tapes???

[iamjoy]

6. Criminal or Foolish, Take Your Pick

I mean, I went out in May canvassing with League of Conservation Voters (volunteer). Then I got involved as a volunteer with the Kerry campaign and told LCV I wouldn't go out with them anymore. It probably wouldn't be a violation, but I don't even want to give the hint or appearance of coordination.

So, if these guys were doing high level stuff with both Bush and the Swift Boat group, they either didn't know what they were doing was wrong (stupid) or thought they wouldn't get caught (criminal)

[fearnobush]

8. Un Freep me Please.

Rate it

[fearnobush]

9. Un Freep me Please.

Rate it

[highnooner]

11. Interesting

hmmmmm.....

[Inland]

10. "I said yes, I like working for dirtbag lying scum."

[Proud2BAmurkin]

12. BWAAAAAAAAA

Filthy liars

[jdj]

14. will you keep us in the bounds of the law?'

that says it all right there.

And the amount of people trolling around this over here just goes to show how threatened the repukes are about this.

[wishlist]

16. Hope that sorry Wolf Blitzer has to retract his statements of last weekend

Wolf's comment was repeated ad nauseaum on CNN and CNN headline news last weekend about there being no connection between the Swiftliars and Bushcampaign. I emailed a complaint to him at CNN about his incorrect and premature judgment.

[Z-E-R-0]

17. We Can't Be Hypocrites

From the article:

"Joe Sandler, a lawyer for the DNC and a group running anti-Bush ads, MoveOn.org, said there is nothing wrong with serving in both roles at once."

[wishlist]

19. You are mistaken ZERO, DNC is not the Kerry campaign, so is okay

It is okay for Joe Sandler to represent two independent groups, the DNC and Move.On because they are independent from the Kerry campaign, so we are not being hypocritical.

[shockingelk]

22. Well,

He's the Bush/Cheney chief "outside counsel", lead council for the 527 that produced and paid for the anti-Kerry "What If?" ad, he said he had a plan on how 527's could advance the conservative agenda, and he advises Swift Boat Vets for Bush.

Naw, that's not suspicious at all! Here's the links: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x665040

[sundancekid]

29. don't you "we" me on that "hypocrites" stuff; now that's a z-e-r-o!

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. To bad the Sinking Boat Vets

didn't lawyer up before their little rally down in Gainesville last weekend. They might not have stepped in it so bad, if they had.

[Bertha Venation]

21. I know Ben. Like everyone who posts on DU, he's just a human being.

I loathe his politics. I'll never understand how anyone can support Bush to the extent that Ben does, but that's his prerogative.

Freak? No. He probably has fun when his guests comment on "that secretary's desk" that they had to walk by to get to his office -- my desk, covered as it is with lefty propaganda & Kerry bumper stickers.

He's just a guy. He's not a freak.

[grasswire]

23. yeah...

....and the handmaidens of many totalitarians through history have been cultured and fine-mannered and charming, too. The Nazis liked liebfraumilch and Strauss waltzes. Don't let the superficial trump the despotic and anti-American actions.

[OKNancy]

24. Kick

Kick

[Imalittleteapot]

25. voted. kick.

[WillyT]

26. More On Ginsberg:

Link: http://www.pattonboggs.com/ourlawyers/a-z/bginsberg.html

Patton Boggs LLP, huh??? Why does that sound so familiar?

:shrug:

[sundancekid]

30. perhaps because of their "reconstruction" expertise and practice area?

http://www.pattonboggs.com/practiceareas/a-z/104.html

<snip>
Patton Boggs has represented many companies seeking and eventually winning contracts for infrastructure reconstruction in the wake of hostilities and regime change. The firm has also represented business enterprises that provide technical assistance to governments in other important realms of regime change, including transformation of state-run economies to market-based, and related efforts to privatize state-owned enterprises.

One of many examples of the firm’s work in this area is its selection to represent a major American construction company involved in bidding to re-build the most difficult segment of the George W. Bush Kabul-Kandahar Highway in Afghanistan. This work represents an important area for the firm—and one that Patton Boggs is uniquely well-qualified to successfully complete. Patton Boggs has also represented a number of major construction companies completing contracting work in regions torn by hostilities, based on the firm’s long history of accomplishments in the area of reconstruction contracting.
<snip>

[trapper914]

27. Ginsberg/Saddam

As the evidence mounts of coordination between the Bush campaign and the Swift Boat Veterans for Smears, I can't help but be reminded of the Bushies attempt to connect Saddam and Al Qaeda. It sure seems like they were ready to go to war over less of a working relationship.

[Spazito]

28. More on Ginsberg, interesting how "involved" he is in 527s given....

what he said only 2 weeks ago!

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_08/004571.php

found this on Soopercali's thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2261355

[skip fox]

33. Thanks! These are great. Please send links like this to

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x70032

This is a reference file on the Swift Boat story with hot links.

Here's the new Ginsberg section (in the Part IV: Collusion) with your material added
(you've help me flesh this secion out, thanks):




Benjamin Ginsberg, the national counsel for Bush's re-election campaign
had to resign due to connections with SBVT:

<snip>

The Washington Post revealed today that a top attorney to the Bush
campaign, Benjamin Ginsberg, has been advising the Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth.

<snip>


http://www.washingtondispatch.com/spectrum/archives/000511.html

and:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6067942

and:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5818634

and:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&u=/ap/20040824/ap_on_el_pr/veterans_group_bush_2&printer=1


Well, maybe what Ginsberg was doing was legal. Right? Well then, why
did he argued differently just two weeks ago?

<snip>

An article that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer just two weeks ago included
this bit about Ginsberg: "Ben Ginsberg, a legal adviser to the Bush campaign,
specifically condemned the dual roles played by Democrats Harold Ickes and Bill
Richardson, who had official roles at the convention and also within prominent f
riendly 527s. 'They're over the coordination line,' Ginsberg said of Ickes and Richardson.
'The whole notion of cutting off links between public officeholders and soft-money
groups just got exploded.'"

To make things even better, Ginsberg doesn't just advise the Swift Boat Guys -- a
role he will no doubt seriously downplay over the next few days. He serves as the
official chief counsel to Progress for America, another 527 that, according to the
Center for Responsive Politics, exists to "form 'issue truth squads' that respond to
Democratic attacks on President Bush."

<snip>

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_08/004571.php

[skip fox]

32. Please send links to stories like this to:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&u=/ap/20040824/ap_on_el_pr/veterans_group_bush_2&printer=1

It's a file (in DU's Editorial section) with hot-links on the Swift Boat jokers.