Lawyer quits over Swift Boat affair
By Rodney Dalton, New York correspondent
August 27, 2004

A LAWYER who advised both the Bush campaign and the veterans group attacking John Kerry's military record resigned yesterday as the Swift Boat affair picked up momentum.

In a letter sent with "sadness", Benjamin Ginsberg told the President his "legal representations have become a distraction from the critical issues at hand in this election".

Mr Ginsberg, who played a role for the Bush team during the Florida recount in 2000, denied that his work for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group was illegal, and said Kerry campaign lawyer Robert Bauer played a similar role for a pro-liberal group.

However, the Democrats seized on Mr Ginsberg's resignation as proof that the Bush re-election campaign was working in concert with the Vietnam veterans to "smear" Senator Kerry with advertisements accusing him of lying about his combat record.

Kerry-Edwards campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said the resignation of the Bush campaign's top lawyer "confirms the extent of those connections".