Kerry targets ambassadorial bid of Swift Boat benefactor
Group attacked his war record
WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry is seeking to stop a major donor to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- the conservative group that attacked his war record in the 2004 presidential race -- from becoming ambassador to Belgium, and the senator has enlisted the help of the "band of brothers" who came to his defense.
With the Senate Foreign Relations Committee set today to consider whether to confirm Sam Fox, the nominee, 11 of Kerry's former comrades from Vietnam sent a letter yesterday to committee leaders urging them to defeat Fox's nomination.
"Those who finance smears and lies of combat veterans don't deserve to represent America on the world stage," read the letter to Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Delaware Democrat who chairs the committee , and the committee's ranking Republican, Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana.
"We think too highly of the country we defended in combat to trust America in the hands of someone who would so casually bankroll lies about our combat records," the letter continued.
Fox in 2004 gave $50,000 to the Swift Boat group, which undermined Kerry's combat record in a series of controversial ads that damaged his presidential campaign. The donation -- and Fox's refusal to apologize for it -- has been a flashpoint in what otherwise would have probably been routine confirmation for the popular St. Louis businessman and philanthropist.
Yet Kerry, seeking to avoid the appearance of political retribution, has decided not to place a "hold" on Fox's nomination -- a step that would have indefinitely blocked his confirmation.
Though he's not actively rallying Democrats to vote against him, Kerry is sharing his opinion with senators who are against Fox's nomination. "I think many members of the committee have questions about whether people are accountable for their political contributions and for their actions," Kerry said.
Fox, who gives generously to GOP causes, told the Senate foreign relations committee last month that he was not familiar with the Swift Boat Veterans' anti-Kerry attacks at the time he gave them the money. He said he made the donation to push back against ads financed by independent groups with close ties to Democrats.
But Kerry and other Democrats have questioned that explanation. They said Fox's support for a group that was condemned for spreading misinformation should cost him the ambassadorship.
"This was an outrageous allegation that was made against Senator Kerry," said Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who serves on the foreign relations committee and is running for president in 2008. "I want people to understand who get involved in this kind of activity: Don't expect to do that and get confirmed for a high post because you've been a big partisan."
Kerry and Dodd, however, will probably fall short in their effort to keep Fox from being confirmed.
Senators from both parties tend to defer to presidents, who make the nominations in such appointments. And Fox has the strong support of independent Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut -- the Democrats' 2000 candidate for vice president -- as well as Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who represents Fox's home state.
Senator Christopher S. Bond, a Missouri Republican who is close to Fox, said Democrats should be careful not to set a precedent whereby donations to political groups disqualify individuals from confirmation as ambassadors. Presidents of both parties typically use postings to desirable countries to reward political supporters, and Bond noted that Democrats have used so-called 527 groups similar to the Swift Boat Veterans more extensively than Republicans.
"If you apply the standard that anybody who has contributed money to a campaign where they maybe [went too far] can't be ambassadors, then very few people would be appointed in the next administration successfully," Bond said.
Still, Kerry has already used Fox's nomination to air grievances over the Swift Boat group's conduct.
At a hearing last month, he pressed Fox on why he donated $50,000 to a group that was making exaggerated and -- in some cases -- unsubstantiated charges about Kerry's service record in Vietnam. "You see no responsibility, as an individual citizen, to try to guarantee that you're not going to support that kind of politics of personal destruction," Kerry said.
Fox distanced himself from the Swift Boat veterans' claims, but quickly noted that Democratic groups also distorted claims about President Bush in 2004.
"Senator, you're a hero and there isn't anybody or anything that's going to take that away from you," he said. "But, yet, 527s [independent groups] tried to. And by the same token, on the other side of the aisle, . . . one 527 went so far as to compare the president of the United States with Adolf Hitler."
Fox said he generally opposes the independent political groups that raised and spent unlimited sums during the 2004 election. He said he gave to the Swift Boat group simply because he was asked to, though he could not recall by whom.
"Mr. Senator, when I'm asked, I just generally give," Fox told Kerry. "I did it because politically it's necessary if the other side's doing it." 