Suit says Kerry, aide defamed filmmaker

By Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press  |  October 6, 2005

PHILADELPHIA -- A filmmaker has sued Senator John F. Kerry and a onetime campaign aide, saying they defamed him as they sought to block the broadcast of an anti-Kerry documentary during the 2004 presidential election.

The lawsuit, filed this week on behalf of producer Carlton Sherwood and a Vietnam veterans group, is the latest salvo in the battle over the documentary ''Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal."

The film contends that Kerry's antiwar activities when he returned from Vietnam caused further harm to captured US soldiers.

The Sinclair Broadcast Group, which as of last year owned 62 TV stations that reached a quarter of US households, canceled plans to air the documentary during the Bush-Kerry race last fall and instead showed only portions of it as part of a broader program.

The Democratic National Committee had protested that ''Stolen Honor" amounted to an illegal in-kind contribution to President Bush's campaign, and Kerry's campaign asked for equal time.

Sherwood's suit alleges that Kerry directed the DNC to issue a statement that falsely said the film was produced and funded by ''extreme right-wing activists."

The film was funded only by Vietnam veterans from Pennsylvania, according to Sherwood, a Harrisburg resident who served in Vietnam. He and the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, a combat veterans group, filed the federal suit in Philadelphia on Monday.

The suit charges that Anthony Podesta, who ran Kerry's campaign in Pennsylvania, called Sherwood ''a disgraced journalist" and ''Bush hack" in a widely circulated e-mail.

A Kerry spokesman suggested that the suit was designed as a fund-raising tool for the veterans foundation and others.

''This is simply more of the same smears and sleaze against a decorated Vietnam veteran from more of the same serial liars who disgraced themselves in 2004," spokesman David Wade said. ''It's too bad the truth doesn't matter to the right wing when there's a chance to fund-raise based on outright falsehood and slander."

Podesta did not return a message late yesterday seeking comment.

In July, the Federal Election Commission rejected a complaint filed by the DNC, ruling that Baltimore-based Sinclair had not violated federal election law by running parts of the documentary.