Bush lawyer quits(reading TV ad scripts/strategy advise/sitting in meeting

[papau]

From the ABCNote: Progress for America Voter Fund, another GOP 527, says that Ben Ginsberg has given them advice too, on approving ad scripts and the like. Ginsberg will continue to work for the Swifties, the PfAVF, and his numerous other Republican clients. Democratic lawyer Robert Bauer was paid by the Kerry campaign itself before the general election campaign began in earnest. He is now paid by the DNC and works with the Kerry campaign's lawyers and the DNC's lawyers. He is not now paid by the Kerry campaign, though he does actively provide them with counsel on election protection issues. Kerry's lead lawyer is Marc Elias, who is a partner of Bauer's at Perkins Coie. Elias and Bauer work very closely on election protection stuff. Bauer supports the work of two Perkins Coie partners who are lead counsel for America Coming Together.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/26/bush_lawyer_quits_over_tie_to_anti_kerry_veterans/?

Bush lawyer quits over tie to anti-Kerry veterans
By Patrick Healy, Globe Staff | August 26, 2004

CRAWFORD, Texas -- The chief outside lawyer for President Bush's reelection campaign resigned yesterday after admitting that he had provided legal services to a group of Vietnam veterans impugning John F. Kerry's military record, despite the Bush campaign's denials to the Federal Election Commission that it played any role in the anti-Kerry attacks.

While Kerry advisers cheered the departure of prominent Washington lawyer Benjamin L. Ginsberg -- who worked unpaid -- as a public relations victory, they immediately faced fresh pressure from Republicans and reporters to explain the involvement of Democratic lawyers and former Kerry aides in a much larger network of privately-funded anti-Bush groups. Under federal campaign finance law, such groups must act independently of the campaigns.

The Bush camp zeroed in on several Democratic lawyers, including Robert Bauer, who is listed on his law firm's website as national counsel to ''Kerry-Edwards 2004 Inc." He provides legal advice to America Coming Together, which plans to spend millions to mobilize voters against Bush.

Bauer said yesterday that his work shifted from the Kerry campaign to the Democratic National Committee months ago and that the website had not been updated. He acknowledged that his current work for the committee, which he described in an interview as safeguarding voters' interests on Election Day, involved ''coordinating" some activities with the Kerry campaign, but insisted that his various roles do not violate federal law barring campaigns from colluding with such outside groups.

''Ben Ginsberg's role at the Bush campaign included reading TV ad scripts, advising on strategy, sitting in on meetings, and I do absolutely none of that," said Bauer. Lawyers at his firm, Perkins Coie, earned more than $300,000 in legal services from the Kerry campaign this year, mostly for work during the primary season.<snip>