CREW FOIAs White House Contacts with Swift Boat Veterans Group
Tue Aug 24, 2:47 PM ET
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Earlier today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) with the White House asking it to detail its contacts with individuals connected to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT).
CREW asked the White House to release information regarding contacts between the Executive Office of the President and: any member of SBVT; SBVT donors Harlan Crow, Bob J. Perry and Paraclete Armor & Equipment; Merrie Spaeth, who has coordinated the public relations efforts of SBVT; any employee of Stevens Reed Curcio & Poltholm, the advertising agency that has made SBVT's commercials; Rupprath and Associates, the detective agency that gathered the SBVT affidavits; SBVT fundraiser The McIntosh Company; and Kenneth Cordier, a former member of the Bush campaign's veterans steering committee.
The White House has claimed no involvement with SBVT or the group's anti-Kerry campaign ads, a claim undermined by recent revelations that Cordier, who appears in one of SBVT's advertisements was on the Bush campaign's veterans steering committee at the time he made the ad, and by the fact that a Kerry campaign volunteer picked up a flier for SBVT at the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign offices in Gainesville, Florida.
CREW's executive director Melanie Sloan stated "Despite evidence to the contrary, the Bush Administration has repeatedly claimed that it has nothing to do with SBVT or its ads. If this is true, then the White House should have no qualms about releasing information regarding any contacts between White House officials and those connected with SBVT."
Sloan decided to send the FOIA after reading that, upon being asked whether she had worked with White House officials, SBVT public relations coordinator Merrie Spaeth said "The answer is 'no' unless you refresh my memory." (NYT 8/20/04). Sloan said that she was also skeptical of Bush political advisor Karl Rove's claim that he has not spoken with his friend and large Republican donor Bob Perry in over a year. The FOIA was sent, said Sloan, "to gather the information Ms. Spaeth, Karl Rove and others may need to have their memories refreshed as to whether or not SBVT illegally coordinated with the White House."
A copy of CREW's FOIA request can be found on the Web at citizensforethics.org |
