A KERRY BAD BOY
By SHARON THEIMER April 1, 2004 --
Billionaire Kerry supporter George Soros - at the center of the "soft
money" storm - gets slimed with mayonnaise in Ukraine yesterday.AFP/Getty
ImagesWASHINGTON - President Bush's campaign yesterday accused John
Kerry of illegally coordinating political ads with anti-Bush groups
and donors - including billionaire George Soros.
Team Bush and the Republican National Committee said they would soon
file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing Kerry
and pro-Kerry groups of violating a campaign law that bans the use
of "soft money" - corporate, union and unlimited individual donations
- to influence federal elections.
The complaint names two groups, MoveOn.org and the Media Fund, that
have been running ads criticizing Bush in several battleground states.
In Ukraine yesterday, Soros - who has said ousting Bush is the "central
focus" of his life - ran into political problems of a different kind
when a group of activists threw mayonnaise on him at a human rights
conference to protest his visit.
Members of a radical nationalist party accused Soros of trying to
prompt a Ukrainian revolution. Local news agencies reported that a
group of youths threw glue and water or white paint at the billionaire.
Soros has vowed to spend $10 million or more to help defeat Bush
and has given millions to the Media Fund and MoveOn.org.
The Bush campaign and the GOP say pro-Kerry groups are illegally
spending soft money in the presidential race, and that Kerry's campaign
is illegally coordinating that spending. The groups have contended
they are operating legally.
"They're making a mockery of what the rules are," Bush campaign chairman
Marc Racicot said.
The GOP cited at least three factors it says prove coordination:
* Links between people involved in some of the soft money groups
and the Kerry campaign during the same election cycle;
* The timing of media buys in the same states and media markets;
* TV stations receiving a Media Fund ad on Kerry's economic plan
before Kerry publicly released the economic plan.
Kerry campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter accused Republicans of
political gamesmanship.
"We take the law very seriously. Republicans can't stand the fact
the American people want change, so now they are playing politics
with the law," Cutter said.
"I'd call it slanderous nonsense - the typical Republican politics
of intimidation," said Media Fund spokesman Jim Jordan. AP
