Swift Boat group still isn't through with Kerry
MEETING IN JANUARY TO FOCUS ON VETS
By Bill Lambrecht
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
WASHINGTON - The end of the 2004 presidential election campaign doesn't spell the end of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the well-funded alliance of former servicemen that remains dedicated to preventing Sen. John Kerry from becoming president.
The group, which recently changed its name to Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth, plans to convene next month to celebrate its successes and to consider speaking out further about Kerry's military service, his anti-war activities afterward, and other issues, says William E. Franke, who ran the organization's day-to-day operations.
In his first interview about his role in the anti-Kerry group, Franke, a Navy veteran who served briefly as publisher of the old St. Louis Globe-Demo-crat in the 1980s, said his group succeeded in its mission to discredit Kerry and may help distribute a controversial film attacking the Massachusetts senator.
Kerry has given no indication that he might seek the Democratic nomination in 2008 and would probably encounter resistance from many in his party if he did.
Nonetheless, Franke made clear that his disdain for Kerry had not abated and that his group was keeping a wary eye on the senator's activities.
Franke offered no new evidence for his claims that Kerry misstated facts about his Vietnam service.
But he said the swift boat group's members remained frustrated, feeling that the news media did not bore in sufficiently on what he regards as unanswered questions about Kerry's service records. He added that he was troubled by a political dust-up in Kerry's home state recently that may have cost the group's public relations firm, Virginia-based Creative Response Concepts, a contract with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
"They have called us rag merchants and liars and scum and every name under the sun. But what he has never done is respond substantively to our accusations," said Franke. He said the group might issue more "statements" about Kerry, but he wasn't specific.
Kerry spokesman David Wade repeated assertions from the campaign that Kerry made all his military records public except for private medical records, and that even those had been viewed by a group of reporters last spring.
"This was a smear campaign led by right-wing Republicans who were willing to lie because they hated John Kerry for having spoken out against the war in Vietnam after he came home," Wade said, responding to questions in an e-mail.
"There's a reason why Franke stayed in a secure, undisclosed location during the campaign: This man had no respect for the truth. ... History already has discredited Bill Franke and his right-wing crusade. His 15 minutes of fame are over," Wade said.
The ability of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and other "527s" to operate in the future as they did this year probably will depend on Congress. The 527s, so named for the tax code provision that governs them, emerged as a force this election as a result of what critics regard as a loophole in the recent campaign finance law.
Among the criticisms are that 527s operate with no donor limits and fewer reporting requirements. One of the legislation's main sponsors, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has vowed further efforts to rein them in.
The Center for Public Integrity, a non-partisan watchdog group in Washington, reported Thursday that the 527 groups raised $434 million this year and "played a major role, perhaps a decisive role" in the election.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth raised $27.2 million, Franke said, most of it in a three-month period starting in July.
In one measure of success, a poll in 12 battleground states taken on election night by a Republican polling firm found that the swift boat veterans' ads were far more recognizable and had more impact than ads of pro-Kerry groups.
"Most people, even Demo-crats, grudgingly acknowledge that those ads were hugely effective," said Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity.
Franke referred to his group as "a substantive organization" and said it had a 150,000-strong donor list. He said it would be considering proposals related to veterans issues when members convene Jan. 26 in Orlando, Fla., for two days. |
