Every embittered critic stepping forward to attack
John Kerry under the auspices of "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth"
is a nonpartisan, independent patriot, motivated
solely by a passion for honesty and integrity -- or so they all tell us.
William Schachte, the retired rear admiral who
launched a media blitz against Kerry on the eve of the Republican
Convention, was no exception, telling every reporter
who would listen that his decision to assault his former shipmate
was strictly a matter of "personal honor."
Yet while most of the veterans and operatives
who have sought to denigrate Kerry's Vietnam service are in fact
Republican partisans, Schachte may be the most
tainted witness of all. Although his current employment went
unmentioned in press accounts, the former Navy
officer now works at Blank Rome LLC, a leading Republican law and lobbying
firm.
Schachte's colleagues at Blank Rome include not
only top Bush-Cheney donors, several former Bush administration
officials, a cochairman of the 2000 Republican
Convention and a cochairman of the 2004 Republican Convention,
but also the former director of the Republican
National Committee's "opposition research" department.
The retired admiral renewed the Vietnam controversy
on Aug. 27 when he told journalists that Kerry's first Purple Heart
was the unearned result of a self-inflicted scratch
during a nighttime mission that received no enemy fire. Contradicting the
word of two veterans of that December 1968 mission
-- both of whom said Schachte wasn't there -- Schachte charged
that Kerry had misfired a grenade launcher and
suffered a minor scratch. (Schachte's account also conflicted with the
Swift Boat Veterans' own Web site, which was
quickly altered to match his tale.)
Determining whether Schachte or the other witnesses
are correct about an incident that occurred more than 35 years
ago is difficult. Judging his candor about his
current motivations and connections may be a simpler matter.
In his Aug. 27 exclusive interview with Lisa Myers
of NBC News, Schachte carefully portrayed himself as an independent
voter who had even voted for Bill Clinton. He
acknowledged donating a couple of thousand dollars to George W. Bush
but indignantly denied any contact with the president's
campaign.
"I don't know that I know anybody in his campaign," Schachte told Myers.
His protestation of innocence suggests that Schachte
knows nobody of consequence at Blank Rome, the powerhouse law
and lobbying firm where he is presently "of counsel."
Hard to believe, surely, but perhaps no one has ever introduced him
to David Girard-di Carlo, the firm's well-known
chairman, who maintains offices in both Philadelphia and Washington.
That would be especially odd because both Girard-di
Carlo and Schachte are registered lobbyists for FastShip, Inc., which
recently received $40 million in federal funds
from the White House and Congress to build a container terminal in Philadelphia.
Girard-di Carlo also chairs the Bush-Cheney 2004
campaign in Pennsylvania and serves as vice-chairman of the finance
committee of the Republican Governors Association,
which reflects his long and close association with Homeland Security
Secretary Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania governor.
Perhaps Schachte has never met David Norcross,
the defense lobbyist who oversaw all the preparations for the GOP
Convention in New York, and whose long political
résumé includes stints as the party chairman in New Jersey
and counsel
to the Republican National Committee. (It would
be strange if Schachte doesn't know Norcross, since they're both involved
in defense lobbying for the same firm.)
Perhaps Schachte hasn't been introduced to Mark
Holman or Carl M. Buchholz, two Blank Rome partners who have
matched chairman Girard-di Carlo as "Pioneers,"
meaning that they raised at least $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney
campaign. Both Holman and Buchholz briefly worked
for Ridge at the Department of Homeland Security, the same
agency these great patriots now lobby on behalf
of clients seeking contracts there. And Buchholz, who served as a
"special assistant to the President" during his
tenure at DHS, has also signed up as a legal counsel to the Bush-Cheney
reelection effort.
Perhaps Schachte has yet to become acquainted
with Barbara Comstock -- his most notoriously partisan colleague -- who
left
her job as an assistant to Attorney General John
Ashcroft last year to join Blank Rome's Washington office. A few years
ago,
the Washington Post immortalized Comstock with
a profile headlined "One-Woman Wrecking Crew Targets Democratic Leaders."
That was back in 2001, when Comstock was still
running opposition research for the Republican National Committee. Prior
to that,
she worked as an investigator for Rep. Dan Burton,
R-Ind., the excitable Clinton opponent known for firing his gun at a watermelon
to emphasize his suspicions about the Vince Foster
case. While usually calm in demeanor, she was responsible for promoting
various
over-hyped "scandals" of the Clinton era -- and
more recently for the "Gore file" used by conservatives to tarnish the
vice president
as a liar and exaggerator during the 2000 campaign.
Perhaps Schachte has no idea how greatly Blank
Rome has prospered under the patronage of the Bush administration and its
corporate supplicants. Its Washington office
has grown from 25 attorneys to more than 70 during the past few years (in
part by
absorbing another firm where Schachte formerly
worked). He may not realize that Blank Rome gives more money to Republican
politicians than any other law firm in the country,
and also holds the record as the second largest political donor of them
all.
And finally, perhaps nobody at Blank Rome invited
poor Bill Schachte to the lavish celebration the firm hosted for more than
500
guests on the second night of the Republican
Convention at the legendary Chrysler Building in midtown Manhattan. If
Schachte wasn't
there to raise a glass of champagne, however,
no doubt his partners toasted his "nonpartisan" and "patriotic" smear of
John Kerry.