Bush Offers Court Fight Against 'Soft Money'

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico, Aug 26 (AFP) - President George W. Bush`s re-election campaign promised Thursday to fight all unregulated "soft money" political groups in court, amid a mounting controversy about ads by Republican veterans slamming Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry`s war record.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters the president spoke to Republican Senator John McCain, a Vietnam War veteran and longtime advocate for campaign finance reform, and discussed fighting the "shadowy" groups, known as 527s.
"The president thought we got rid of all of this kind of shadowy activity when he signed the campaign finance reforms into law," McClellan said. "The president reached out to Senator McCain to say, let`s work together and pursue court action to shut down all of this activity by these shadowy groups."
McClellan stopped short of directly condemning the ads by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which charge that Kerry lied to get some of his medals during the Vietnam War, but said the president wanted an end to "all of the ads and activity."
Several of the 527 groups have been working against Bush`s re-election effort, but the Swift boat ads have drawn the ire of veterans` groups and led to the resignation of two Bush campaign officials for their connection to the organization.
McCain on Thursday lauded White House moves to rein in the deep-pocketed 527 organizations, whose partisan political ads have become a potent force in the current US presidential campaign, and vowed to work with Bush to defang the groups.
"I enthusiastically applaud President Bush`s commitment to ensuring that 527s operate under the same funding rules that apply to federal candidates and parties," the Arizona Republican said in a statement.
"I look forward to working with the president, both in the courts and through legislation, to force the Federal Election Commission to regulate 527s, as they are already required by the law and affirmed by the Supreme Court to do."
McCain is one of the authors of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation, signed into law in March 2002, which aimed to lessen the impact of large campaign donations from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals.
In the wake of the law`s passage however, the 527 groups -- named for the tax code that defines them -- have increased in influence, because they are not covered under the law.
527s -- many of which are financed by wealthy political activists and organizations -- may fund partisan advertisements as long as they are independent of any particular candidate.
Groups like MoveOn.org and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have launched particularly aggressive campaigns against Bush and Kerry, respectively.
McCain, who has been campaigning frequently with Bush and who will play a central role in next week`s Republican National Convention, said he will cooperate with the White House and work to increase federal oversight.