Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- A lawyer for President George W. Bush's re-election campaign became the second link between the president and a veterans group running commercials against Democratic challenger John Kerry, who filed a federal complaint last week alleging illegal coordination of the ads.

Benjamin Ginsberg, 53, one of Bush's attorneys during the Florida recount that decided the 2000 election, gave legal advice to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, group spokeswoman Jennifer Webster said. The veterans, whose ads say Kerry lied about his military record in Vietnam, sought the advice, she said.

``It's another piece of the mounting evidence of the ties between the Bush campaign and this group,'' Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton said. ``The longer President Bush waits to specifically condemn this smear, the more it looks like his campaign is behind it.''

U.S. law bars coordination between candidates and independent organizations such as the Swift Boat Veterans, known as 527 groups for the section of the Internal Revenue Service code that grants them tax-exempt status. The groups aren't subject to campaign spending restrictions that candidates must follow.

Coordination Issue

``The issue is whether Ginsberg passed information back and forth between the campaign and the 527,'' said Larry Noble, executive director for the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. ``If he served simply as an agent to both groups but didn't share information, then that's not illegal.''

Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said ``there has been no coordination at any time'' between the Bush campaign and any political organizations, including the Swift Boat Veterans. Ginsberg is an outside attorney for the Bush campaign from Washington-based Patton Boggs LLP. Calls to his home and office and an e-mailed request for comment weren't returned.

Ginsberg's role with the veterans was reported by the Associated Press last evening. Ginsberg told the AP he agreed to provide legal service to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth when asked to advise the group about a law related to the First Amendment.

``When they have a legal question, I answer them,'' Ginsberg told the AP. Ginsberg said he never told the Bush campaign what he discussed with the group, or vice versa, and doesn't advise the group on ad strategies, according to the AP. He said he hadn't yet decided whether to charge the Swift boat veterans a fee, the AP reported.

Earlier Link

The first ties between the Bush campaign and the Swift boat veterans became public Aug. 21, when the Bush campaign said former Air Force Colonel Ken Cordier worked with the Swift Boat Veterans while serving on Bush's National Veterans Steering Committee. Cordier, who resigned from the campaign, appears in a commercial for Swift Boat Veterans. The Bush campaign didn't know in advance that Cordier was working for both Bush and the veterans group, Bush spokesman Steve Schmidt said.

The Swift boat group ran ads earlier this month in Ohio, Wisconsin and West Virginia saying Kerry didn't deserve the three Purple Hearts for being wounded and the Silver and Bronze Stars for valor awarded to him by the U.S. Navy for his service in Vietnam. They cite their own recollections of events to dispute Navy records from the time the medals were approved 35 years ago.

Lieutenant Mike Kafka, a U.S. Navy spokesman, declined to comment on issues regarding Kerry's time in Vietnam.

Other veterans who served with Kerry defend him, including Chicago Tribune editor William Rood, a former Swift Boat officer; Jim Russell, a former Navy lieutenant; and Jim Rassmann, a former U.S. Army Green Beret.

Decision Unlikely

New School University President Bob Kerrey, a former senator who lost part of his leg in Vietnam, condemned the advertisements and said President Bush should put a stop to the political ads, the New York Daily News reported.

In an editorial yesterday headlined ``These Charges Are False,'' the Los Angeles Times said Bush is using a ``technique'' against Kerry that George H.W. Bush ``perfected'' in 1988 against Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, ``though its roots go back at least to Sen. Joseph McCarthy.''

The Kerry campaign said Aug. 20 it filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission to halt the ads, alleging illegal coordination with Bush's campaign.

Commission Chairman Bradley Smith yesterday defended the right of the Swift Boat Veterans to run the ads, saying the group was exercising its right to free speech. ``I think it's great we live in a country where 260 average guys can go and put their point of view out there before the public and influence a major presidential race,'' Smith said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

Smith, a Republican appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, said it was unlikely that the election commission will rule on Kerry's complaint before the Nov. 2 vote.

The Swift Boat Veterans group is spending $1.1 million on ads attacking Kerry. Of that, $550,000 was spent on the spots that ran earlier this month in Ohio, Wisconsin and West Virginia, spokesman Sean McCabe said.

Republican Support

The group listed 10 financial backers in its June 30 filing with the Internal Revenue Service. More than 10,000 new donors gave more than $450,000 in the last two weeks, McCabe said.

Seven of the 10 supporters listed with the IRS are Republicans, according to PoliticalMoneyLine. Among them is Bob Perry, the largest political donor to Republicans in Texas, who provided $100,000. Perry, chief executive of closely held Perry Homes in Houston, has declined to be interviewed.

Bush political adviser Karl Rove told the New York Times through a spokeswoman that he and Perry were longtime friends, though they had not spoken for at least a year. Rove and Perry have been associates since at least 1986, when they both worked on the gubernatorial campaign of Bill Clements, the Times said.

John O'Neill, a member of Swift Boat Veterans, debated Kerry on the Dick Cavett Show in 1971. O'Neill was enlisted by President Richard Nixon and then-White House counsel Charles Colson, who later went to prison for his role in the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon's 1974 resignation.

Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and former Vietnam prisoner of war, two weeks ago called the Swift Boat group's ad dishonest and urged the White House to condemn it.

Bush said Monday he would like a halt to all campaign ads by political groups not controlled directly by candidates, including the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. ``I'm denouncing all the stuff,'' he said. The president also said ``Kerry served admirably, and he ought to be proud of his record'' in Vietnam.

To contact the reporter for this story: Glenn Hall at ghall@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 25, 2004 10:31 EDT