by Olivier Knox
FORT MYERS, Florida, Aug 20 (AFP) - Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry`s campaign formally alleged Friday that a group attacking his Vietnam war record had illegal ties to US President George W. Bush`s reelection bid.
The White House has consistently denied any linkages between Bush`s campaign and the group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and said it respects Kerry`s wartime service, but refused categorically to repudiate the charges against him.
In a statement, the Kerry campaign said it had "filed a legal complaint against Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) before the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for violating the law with inaccurate ads that are illegally coordinated with the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign."
The complaint asks that the Republican National Committee, Bush`s reelection campaign, and the veterans group "be enjoined from further violations, be required to repay their illegal contributions and be fined the maximum amount permitted by law."
SBVT spokesman John O`Neill dismissed the complaint as "completely frivolous."
"Sadly, it represents a direct attack by large law firms, employed by Senator Kerry, on his fellow veterans," O`Neill said in a statement.
"Even more sadly, it represents a direct attack by Kerry on the right of prisoners of war to be able to express to the American people their views and factual accounts of their own imprisonment and Kerry`s impact on them."
The complaint, he said, amounted to "a direct assault on the First Amendment of the United States and on the right of all veterans...to be freely heard."
It remained unclear, however, whether the Kerry campaign`s surprise legal attack would force the SBVT, which unleashed a second television commercial against Kerry on Friday, to withdraw that advertisement as well as a first ad released in early August.
The FEC is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.
Kerry, who won five medals as a gunboat commander in the war, has used his combat exploits to tout his national security credentials in the first presidential campaign since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
But there were signs that the group`s first advertisement, shown in select states but enjoying national media coverage, had taken its toll on his support among fellow veterans he hopes will help him win the November 2 election.
The Kerry campaign statement cited recent press reports about the group and public statements by some of its members to buttress its claim of improper ties to the Republican party and Bush`s campaign.
The New York Times on Friday reported that there is a "web of connections" between the Swift Boat group and the "Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush`s chief political aide, Karl Rove."
The Kerry campaign also released a flyer, obtained at a Bush campaign headquarters in a Florida country, promoting an event featuring the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
The White House denied again on Friday that it had any connection to the Swift Boat group and accused Kerry of "losing his cool."
"We`ve already said we weren`t involved in any way in these ads. We`ve made that clear," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is vacationing at his ranch.
"I do think that Senator Kerry losing his cool should not be an excuse for him to lash out at the president with false and baseless attacks," McClellan said.
The Bush campaign brushed aside the complaint to the FEC. "This is a frivolous complaint that even John Kerry`s chief strategist has said they have no evidence to support," said spokesman Steve Schmidt.
The Kerry campaign complaint came a day after Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran who later fiercely opposed the war, launched a counterattack on the Swift Boat group and accused Bush of using them for the "dirty work" of attacking his record.
"More than 30 years ago, I learned an important lesson: When youre under attack, the best thing to do is turn your boat into the attacker. That`s what I intend to do today," he said in a speech in Boston.
The group has alleged that Kerry lied to obtain two of his medals and that he betrayed US forces still in Vietnam by alleging after he returned to the United States that US troops committed atrocities.
Kerry won three Purple Hearts for wounds suffered in combat and a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for bravery, and points to his US Navy record as evidence that he served with distinction.
"Thirty years ago, this was the plain truth. It still is. And I still carry the shrapnel in my leg from a wound in Vietnam," the Massachusetts senator told a firefighters` union.