SwiftVets.com

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Hoffman Article

Group glories in Kerry's defeat
Swift Boat Veterans pleased ad campaign paid off, says a local organizer of effort

BY TYLER WHITLEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Nov 8, 2004

Its mission accomplished, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has essentially dissolved.

"I don't think there is any doubt that we succeeded," said retired Rear Adm. Roy F. Hoffmann, who helped start the organization from the den of his Chesterfield County home then saw it grow into a national movement.

Like just about everyone else, Hoffmann said "I stayed up all night" watching the election returns that denied John Kerry the presidency.

That was the organization's goal - to prevent Kerry from being "commander in chief," Hoffmann said.

Starting out with a modest budget of $500,000, the anti-Kerry organization wound up spending $25 million, including $19.5 million on television commercials in battleground states that called into question Kerry's military record.

In the final three weeks of the campaign, Swift Boat Veterans spent $6.3 million on TV advertising, much of it in Ohio, the state that put Bush over the top.

Kerry had made his record in Vietnam - he won three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star during a four-month tour of duty in the war - a centerpiece of his campaign.

Mark Rozell, political scientist at George Mason University, said the ads had a significant impact on Bush's victory.

"Senator Kerry had set out to define himself as a military hero," Rozell said. "The Swift Boat ads put him on the defensive on an issue where he should have had an edge on Bush."

Democrats and some independent observers questioned the veracity of the ads, particularly the initial one that suggested Kerry's Purple Heart wounds were superficial. Hoffmann said the organization stands by those claims, some of which were attested to in affidavits signed by Navy veterans who had served in the same Swift Boat squadron that Kerry served in.

A career Naval officer, Hoffmann was commander of the Swift Boats in Vietnam. He retired in Chesterfield after helping run the Port of Richmond.

The Democratic National Committee has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission that the Swift Boats organization illegally coordinated with the Bush campaign.

Hoffmann said it did not. The organization, while basically out of business, has set aside money for legal expenses as it contests the DNC complaint, he said. While ceasing to function as a political organization, it must file reports with the Federal Election Commission for the next five years.

Benjamin L. Ginsberg, the chief outside counsel to the Bush re-election campaign, resigned in August after disclosures that he had provided legal advice to the Swift Boat organization.

Federal law prohibits a candidate's campaign organization and independent groups from coordinating their activities.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was one of the so-called 527 organizations, named after a section of the tax code, that could raise unlimited sums of money outside the campaign-donations restrictions imposed by the McCain-Feingold Act.

Other people affiliated with the organization have had ties to the Republican Party, although no direct connection was made to the Bush campaign.


Hoffmann said the initial ad buy in three states triggered such a deluge of free publicity that donations started pouring in. The Swift Boat veterans received more than $7 million in contributions over the Internet. In August and September alone, the group conducted 1,000 radio interviews, Hoffmann said.

Hoffmann said the organization, now up to about 280 veterans, is making plans for a low-keyed "Bon Voyage" reunion to celebrate its triumph.

In the meantime, Hoffmann has no plans to involve himself in politics again.

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com


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