WASHINGTON - A group of watchdog organizations charged Friday that Texans for Truth, whose TV ads question President Bush's service in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, has violated campaign fund-raising laws.
The Washington-based watchdog organizations, Democracy 21, the Campaign Legal Center and the Center for Responsive Politics, made the allegation in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission.
The complaint says Texans for Truth is accepting contributions and running advertisements to influence the presidential race and therefore comes under campaign finance limits, which cap individual contributions at $2,000 from an individual and $5,000 from a political committee.
Texans for Truth has reported a $100,000 contribution from Daniel O'Keefe, a California television producer.
Glenn Smith, a Democratic political consultant who organized Texans for Truth, said Friday that he hadn't seen the complaint and could not comment on its charges.
Smith said most of the group's contributions are small and not representative of the big money already being spent in the election.
Texans for Truth's ads came after another group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, ran TV ads criticizing Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's Navy service in the Vietnam War.
The watchdog groups have complained to the FEC about the Swift Boat group and other pro-Republican groups. Those complaints are pending.
The complaint filed Friday also alleges that FEC misinterpretation of campaign finance laws has allowed such political advocacy groups to flourish without regulation.
The groups are called 527 organizations, named for a tax code section under which they were formed to avoid campaign reform rules known as the McCain-Feingold law.
Bush has said all political ads by 527 groups should be withdrawn, including the ones that criticize Kerry.
U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others introduced legislation this week to crack down on 527s.
McCain also said he would push for a revamping of the FEC soon after Nov. 2.
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Looks like those boys down there in Texas done got themselves in trouble. I hope this sticks :)
Good. T4T stinks to high heaven.
I saw one of those lackeys on (i think) Scarborough Country the other day.
Left a lot to be desired in the truth dept. IMO.
Smith said most of the group's contributions are small and not representative of the big money already being spent in the election.
Typical democrat response. Well, we are obeying "some" of the law.
Thanks for posting this.
BMP
Good old Rabid Dog McCain. First he creates the problem, now he's going to solve the problem. Thanks, John.
Glenn Smith and so called Texans for truth got their start as a spin-off (funding) from Move-on.org
They ran 1 ad. It featured a guy from the 187th in Alabama where then 1 LT. Bush pushed paper for a few months to earn his 50 points for the year. All he said was that he didn't see Bush. After the ad was run, they asked the guy more questions, he had said that he had no proof that Bush wasn't in Alabama, but just that he didn't see him.
So, there's 1 guy behind the public face of Texans for Truth (meaning the ad) and he doesn't even know who Bush at the time.
On the other side of the fence, we have the Swift Boat Vets for Truth. There are over 250 affidavit-swearing individuals, many officers, most decorated, that tell X, Y, and Z why John Kerry is a kook...I mean, these people were eye witnesses and saw John Kerry do X, Y, and Z.
If the Texans for Truth are trying to play the "...for Truth" game, then they are woefully outmatched.
TV writer/producer is first six-figure donor to new anti-Bush group
Thursday September 09, 2004
By SHARON THEIMER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) A television writer and fund-raiser for John Kerry is the first six-figure donor to a new group that is criticizing President Bush's National Guard service during the Vietnam War.
Daniel O'Keefe, a writer/producer whose work includes such sitcoms as ``The Drew Carey Show'' and ``Seinfeld,'' donated $100,000 this week to Texans for Truth, an Austin-based group that plans to run anti-Bush television ads starting Monday.
O'Keefe said his donation was prompted by the ads of another group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, accusing Democratic presidential hopeful Kerry of exaggerating his decorated Vietnam War service record. He said he also donated out of anger over Bush's failure to fight in Vietnam and the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
``I'm a conservative Democrat, but this administration is out of control, and I've never seen dirtier politics than the Swift Boat stuff, and the hypocrisy of that when you have an honest-to-goodness American hero being torn down by the shadowy minions of a powerful family that helped a wayward son avoid his military obligations so he could party in the woods of Alabama,'' O'Keefe said Thursday in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. ``I didn't think I could as a citizen do nothing.''
The Bush campaign refuted O'Keefe's comments.
``The president's National Guard service was honorable,'' Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said.
O'Keefe said he learned of Texans for Truth after several people forwarded him a fund-raising e-mail Tuesday that another anti-Bush group, MoveOn.org, sent its Texas members soliciting contributions to Texans for Truth.
O'Keefe's $100,000 donation was the biggest so far to the group, said Glenn Smith, its founder and director. Texans for Truth has raised about $400,000 from at least 5,000 contributors since it was founded Aug. 31, he said.
The group spent about $100,000 on its first ad buy, an anti-Bush commercial that starts Monday in the presidential battleground states Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
In addition to his Texans for Truth donation, O'Keefe has given at least $29,000 to Democratic candidates and national party committees in the 2003-04 election cycle.
His contributions include at least $6,250 to Kerry's campaign and legal compliance fund, and $18,500 to the Democratic National Committee. O'Keefe said he also has raised money for Kerry, but hasn't kept track of how much.
O'Keefe is currently working on ``Listen Up,'' a new CBS sitcom about a sports columnist featuring former ``Seinfeld'' star Jason Alexander.
Texans for Truth was founded to counter ads run by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, whose first six-figure donation also came from a Texan. Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, a donor to Bush's campaign and the GOP, gave the Swift Boat group at least $100,000.
Both groups are raising unlimited donations from individuals.
Smith , the founder of Texans for Truth, is also involved in DriveDemocracy.org, created earlier this year to help Texans get involved in the political process. Previously, he helped run the successful 1990 Texas gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Ann Richards, who lost her 1994 re-election bid to Bush. Smith was campaign manager for Democrat Tony Sanchez's unsuccessful 2002 campaign for Texas governor.
Texans for Truth: http://www.texansfortruth.org/
Violating campaign finance laws. Gee, this is almost as serious as a parking ticket. I bet they really throw the book at them and scold them and call them bad names like "naughty boys".
Paging Ronnie Earle. Ooops , Federal laws. Paging John Ashcroft.
BTTT...bookmark to read later...
Hahhahaha! Best news I've heard all day. Thanks for sharing.