WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (AFP) - A lawyer for President George W. Bush`s re-election campaign who advised a group of veterans accusing Democratic challenger John Kerry in a television advertisement of embellishing his Vietnam War record announced his resignation Wednesday.
"I have decided to resign as national counsel to your campaign to ensure that the giving of legal advice to decorated military veterans, which was entirely within the boundaries of the law, doesn`t distract from the real issues upon which you and the country should be focusing," Benjamin Ginsberg said in a letter released by Bush campaign officials.
Ginsberg, who played a key role in the president`s re-election campaign, told The New York Times the group had enlisted his help in July in interpreting new campaign finance laws.
In his letter to Bush, he said: "I am proud to have given legal advice to American military veterans and others who wish to add their views to the political debate." And he stressed that "it was done so in a manner that is fully appropriate and legal."
"I cannot begin to express my sadness that my legal representations have become a distraction from the critical issues at hand in this election," Ginsberg wrote, adding: "I feel I cannot let that continue."
In response, Kerry`s campaign manager, Mary Beth Cahill, said in a statement that "the sudden resignation of Bush`s top lawyer doesn`t end the extensive web of connections between George Bush and the group trying to smear John Kerry`s military record.
"In fact, it only confirms the extent of those connections. Now we know why George Bush refuses to specifically condemn these false ads," she said.
The resignation comes on the heels of a sparring match in which the two sides have accused each other of lying in a war of words over Kerry`s record in the Vietnam War.
Bush called Monday for a stop to campaign ads by independent groups, including those targetting Kerry`s war record, and praised his Democratic rival`s service as a Swift boat captain in Vietnam.
Until then, the president had declined to repudiate the ads, which the Kerry campaign claims were orchestrated by Bush operatives and which allege that Kerry lied about some of the wounds and medals he received in Vietnam.