65,398
edits
Changes
The August 4, 2004, edition of [[Fox News]] Channel's [[Hannity & Colmes]] dedicated coverage and airtime to the SBVT campaign, referring to the group as Kerry's "crewmates." [http://www.eriposte.com/media/liars_inc/swiftboat.htm]
The second of their advertisements--[http://web.archive.org/web/20040821235439/http://swift1.he.net/~swiftvet/selloutscript.html Sellout]--featured comments, taken out of context, from [[John Kerry's 1971 Senate Testimony]] interspliced with comments from other veterans. The advertisement opened with a brief excerpt featuring Kerry stating "soldiers had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads ..." and then cuts to veteran Joe Ponder: "The accusations made against the veterans who served in Vietnam was just devastating."
The advertisement omitted the beginning of Kerry's sentence, which referred to what had been said by veterans themselves at a meeting in Detroit as part of the [[Winter Soldier Investigation]]. The transcript of Kerry's evidence included him telling the committee that at the Detroit meeting "many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia" and relived the "absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do."
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth appears to have sought professional help with [[Federal Election Commission]] compliance. In May 2004, it paid $7500 to [[Political Compliance Services Inc.]], a consulting company in Fairfax, VA. [http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:p1DJFzj90KoJ:www.publicintegrity.org/527/docs/9558357.pdf+%22Swift+Boat+Veterans%22,+%22Political+Compliance+Services%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2] Political Compliance Services describes itself as "an accounting services vendor specializing in FEC regulations. Our comprehensive approach to your individual accounting needs will deliver you from the headaches and legal ramifications of FEC non-compliance." [http://politicalcompliance.com/]
However, Political Compliance Services itself appears to have strong Republican ties. All of its known clients are conservative. [http://www.SourceWatch.org/wiki.phtml?title=Political_Compliance_Services_Inc.#Known_customers] Its administrative contact [[Susan Arceneaux]] is a Republican stalwart involved with several [[right-wing]] organizations. She is treasurer of [[Majority Leader's Fund|The Majority Leader's Fund]] [http://www.public-isalon.orgcom/opinion/conason/2004/08/28/527swift_bush/searchindex_np.aspx?act=com&orgid=371html], a listed contact for [[FreedomWorks]] [http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:7DzZdijLh-cJ:www.publicintegrity.org/527/docs/9557428.pdf+%22Freedom+Works%22,+Arceneaux&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2], and was the custodian of records for [[David Horowitz (ex-Marxist)|David Horowitz]]'s defunct 527, [[PoliticalWar.com Inc.]] [http://store72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:igrIqSEdL9gJ:www.publicintegrity.org/527/docs/9555633923443.pdf+%22David+Horowitz%22,+Arceneaux&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1] [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=13925]
On August 24, 2004, the extent of Arceneaux's involvement with SBVT became clear. According to ''The New York Times'', SBVT had admitted the previous day that Arceneaux "helped set it up and works for it." The ''Times'' had discovered that Arceneaux "is given as the contact person on the post office box that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth lists as its address." The article also pointed out that The Majority Leader's Fund "receives significant financing from [[Bob Perry]]," the major donor to SBVT. [http://www.nytimesusa-election.com/2004/08de/24usa/politics/campaign/24swiftpresident_urges_outside_groups_to_halt_all_ads.htmlhtm] [http://www.iht.com/articles/535470.htm].
==Chris LaCivita, media strategy adviser to SBVT==