Bush Campaign Rejects Kerry Complaint As 'frivolous'

ARLINGTON, Virginia, Aug 20 (AFP) - President George W. Bush's campaign on Friday described as "frivolous" a formal complaint by Senator John Kerry's camp alleging that a group attacking the Democratic challenger's Vietnam War record had illegal ties to Bush's reelection bid.
"This is a frivolous complaint that even John Kerry's chief strategist has said they have no evidence to support," said spokesman Steve Schmidt at Bush campaign headquarters in this town across the Potomac River from Washington.
He contended it was Kerry's campaign that was using tax-exempt groups to boost his campaign. Such groups, known by their legal code 527, may fund advertisements favoring a candidate so long as they are independent of the campaign.
"The revolving door of personnel, coordinated strategies and overlapping fundraising between the Democratic 527s and the Kerry campaign is a flagrant disregard of the spirit and letter of the campaign finance reform law," Schmidt said.
The White House has consistently denied any linkages between Bush's campaign and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that has attacked Kerry's war record.
The White House 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 was filed with the Federal Elections Commission, it said.