Kerry Campaign FEC Complaint- Pot Calling Kettle Black

Kate brings our attention to this Washington Times report on the hypocrisy of the Kerry Campaign filing a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission arguing that the Bush campaign illegally coordinated with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth:

We reminded our readers yesterday that the swift boat veterans' initial stake of $500,000, which the New York Times dissected brilliantly, was mere peanuts compared to the $60 million worth of "independent" TV ads attacking President Bush. Today we would like to add to the Times story and show similar "connections" between pro-Kerry 527 organizations, named for the IRS section that governs them, and the Kerry campaign.

According to the Times, a number of pro-Kerry 527s have connections to the Kerry campaign.

MoveOn.org
In April, the Kerry campaign hired MoveOn.org's director of special projects, Zack Exley, to run the campaign's online communications. Though the Bush campaign recently fired Ken Cordier for his involvement with the swift boat veterans, the Kerry campaign still employs Mr. Exley.

MoveOn.org has posted a letter on its Web site from Kerry commending the organization for its efforts in helping to stop the "Bush right-wing juggernaut."

MoveOn.org's founder and campaign director, Eli Pariser, sent an e-mail to its members explaining how they can host their own pro-Kerry party and included links to the official Kerry campaign Web site. Attached in the e-mail was a letter from Mary Beth Cahill, Mr. Kerry's campaign manager, though the MoveOn.org e-mail had a disclaimer at the bottom that said, "Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."

Media Fund
The Media Fund is run by Harold Ickes who sits on the Democratic National Committee's executive board and was in attendance at the Democratic Convention last month.

America Coming Together (ACT)
Sam Kaplan, an honorary co-chairman of the Minnesota branch of the Kerry-Edwards campaign, is a fund-raiser for ACT.

Jim Jordan, Mr. Kerry's former campaign manager, is the chief spokesman for both the Media Fund and ACT, two pro-Kerry 527s that have a combined total receipt of $54.1 million.

There is more. The Truth Laid Bear has posted a graphic comparing some of the pro-Kerry 527s to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Using numbers and descriptions from http://www.opensecrets.org/, the graphic shows why Kerry won't join President Bush in calling for an end to all 527 ads.

Blogs for Bush has posted this graphic showing pro-Kerry 527's Web of Connections to the Kerry campaign: