SwiftVets.com

[justamom]

Can citizens file a FEC complaint? Isn't there ANYTHING we can do besides our usual letter to the editor?

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/8/21/110452.shtml

In April the Kerry for President web site proudly announced:

"Zach Exley joins the [Kerry] Internet team as Director of Online Communications and Online Organizing. He was previously the director of special projects for the MoveOn.org."

To appreciate the level of coordination represented by MoveOn's revolving door with the Kerry campaign, imagine what the media outcry would be if the Bush campaign suddenly announced that leading Swiftvet John O'Neill would be coming aboard as "Director of Veterans Outeach."


Full Text:
Saturday, Aug. 21, 2004 10:58 a.m. EDT
FEC Complaint Against 'Fahrenheit 9/11'?

When the White House accused the Kerry campaign of "losing its cool" on Friday by filing an FEC complaint against the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, the Democratic nominee immediately fired back with an allusion to Michael Moore's movie "Fahrenheit 9/11."

"John Kerry is not the type of leader who will sit and read 'My Pet Goat'" when he is under attack, responded Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter, citing the scene of Bush in a Florida classroom immortalized in Moore's film.

Was Cutter's reference merely coincidental? Or further evidence of illegal coordination between the Bush-bashing Moore, his backers at the 527 group MoveOn.org and the Kerry campaign?
That's what the Kerry FEC complaint alleges against Bush and the Swiftvets, citing an array of contacts and associations between Bush insiders over the years and the Texans who bankrolled the Swiftvet ads.

But if that's the basis for claiming the campaign finance laws have been broken, Moore, MoveOn and Kerry himself have much, much more to worry about.

Consider: When "Fahrenheit" debuted in late June, MoveOn, whose sole mission these days is to depose President Bush, led the promotional effort.

"MoveOn.org signed up more than 115K people who pledged to see the pic during the opening weekend," the group's executive director Eli Pariser told Variety. "When I went to Waterville, Maine, and asked how many people from MoveOn were there, probably about three-quarters of the people there said yes."

"The liberal group MoveOn.org even organized people to prebuy tickets," reported National Public Radio at the time.

The effort included organizing 1,000 people across the country to host "Fahrenheit" parties in their homes, according to Wisconsin's Capital Times. "Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org's executive director, reported during the online conference call that more than 3,000 house parties were taking place Monday night," the paper said.

Pariser's group wasn't the only Kerry campaign surrogate working to promote Moore's film. Key Democratic operatives with ties to top Clintonista Harold Ickes were immediately deployed to trash "Fahrenheit" critics.

Former Hillary Clinton press secretary Howard Wolfson, for instance, was "parachuted" into the Cannes film festival, the Washington Post reported in May, to help fend off Republican attacks on Moore.

Also working media relations for Moore, Ickes' former White House colleagues Chris Lehane and Mark Fabiani.

Remembered chiefly for his hardball style of scandal management during the Clinton Whitewater and Campaign Finance imbroglios, Ickes now directs the giant "Media Fund" 527, which the Washington Post has called a "shadow Democratic Party."

Spokeswoman Cutter's reference to "Fahrenheit" isn't the first time Democratic Party officials have been caught coordinating their message with the conspiracy-minded filmmaker.

In February - after Moore called President Bush as "deserter" - Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe immediately incorporated the charge into the party's official attack on the White House.

"I look forward to that debate with John Kerry, a war hero with a chest full of medals, standing next to George Bush - a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard," McAuliffe told ABC's "This Week."

There's also direct ties between the Kerry campaign and MoveOn, via some key personnel.

In April the Kerry for President web site proudly announced:

"Zach Exley joins the [Kerry] Internet team as Director of Online Communications and Online Organizing. He was previously the director of special projects for the MoveOn.org."

To appreciate the level of coordination represented by MoveOn's revolving door with the Kerry campaign, imagine what the media outcry would be if the Bush campaign suddenly announced that leading Swiftvet John O'Neill would be coming aboard as "Director of Veterans Outeach."

But even that wouldn't be a violation of the campaign finance laws, at least not according to the way those laws have been applied to MoveOn.org, Michael Moore and the Kerry campaign during the current election cycle.