WASHINGTON – John Kerry’s campaign has hired a top strategist from MoveOn.org, the supposedly independent Bush-bashing group that the president’s team has accused of illegally helping the Democrat.
Zach Exley – who once called Bush a “crackerhead” on CNN and created a 2000 political parody site that portrayed Bush as a crack user – will run Kerry’s Internet operations.
MoveOn is one of the controversial “527” groups – named for Section 527 of the new campaign-finance law – that are using a loophole in the measure to spend supposedly outlawed “soft” money on attack ads against President Bush.
The “527” groups – one of which is funded by Bush-hating billionaire George Soros – are barred by law from coordinating with Kerry’s campaign. But Republicans say Exley’s hiring is one more sign of illegal coordination.
Exley claims he won’t communicate with MoveOn until after the election, but MoveOn’s executive director, Eli Pariser, acknowledged that Exley will be able to make use of “what he’s got in his head.”
Republican National Chairman Ed Gillespie noted that MoveOn ran an anti-Bush ad contest featuring two spots comparing Bush to Hitler, and said Exley’s hiring shows “further illegal coordination.”
Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said, “I don’t think there’s any evidence of coordination. If you have any, show it to me. People have a right to change jobs when they want to.”
Asked if Team Kerry believes a Bush-Hitler comparison is valid, she replied, “No, we do not.”
The Bush-Cheney campaign is trying to prod the Federal Election Commission to outlaw the “527” use of soft money and has helped generate more 100,000 e-mails and postcards to the FEC.