Where have we heard the name "Benjamin Ginsberg" before? And, lo and behold that name ties in with LaCivita through Progress for America a 501c Republican group. LaCivita also ties in with Tony Feather and Elizabeth Dole. The results of some 'googling' in the extended copy.
Progress for America
"The group - Progress for America - is a 501(c)(4) membership committee that was begun in 2001 by Tony Feather, a longtime Republican consultant with strong ties to President Bush. Feather recently cut his ties to the group, however, and has been replaced atop the organization by
Chris LaCivita, political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the 2002 cycle and the top political strategist for NRSC Chairman George Allen (Va.). ....Republican lawyer Ben Ginsberg, who specializes in campaign finance and election law, is also closely affiliated with the committee, according to well-placed sources. .....Neither LaCivita nor Ginsberg returned calls for comment."
Chris LaCivita heads Progress for America, a 501c4 organization founded in 2001 by Republican consultant, Tony Feather. He also works for the DCI Group, a Republican lobbying firm.
LaCivita was described in Roll Call as "political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the 2002 cycle and the top political strategist for NRSC Chairman George Allen" of Virginia. [1] source
On August 25, 2004 the New York Times reported that LaCivita was working for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth as an adviser on media strategy. According to Federal Election Committee filings by SBVT, LaCivita received $30,000 for his media consulting work.[2] source He received $24,658 for providing consulting services to Progress for America.[3] source
LaCivita told the New York Times that he worked as a private contractor for DCI and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and that there was no coordination between the firm and the group. "Obviously, I don't work for the Bush campaign," he said. Mr. LaCivita described his role as providing advice on the news media and placing advertisements. [4] source and SourceWatch
LaCivita was instrumental in the defeat of Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Erskine Bowles, a former Clinton chief of staff, against Republican Elizabeth Dole in the North Carolina. And Bowles was linked to Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky scandal throughout that campaign by those GOP operatives.
In fact, LaCivita commented at the time that the negative Clinton strategy was done early and often to defeat Bowles.
In the Times-Dispatch article last week, LaCivita dismissed the idea that the Bush campaign might have the slightest involvement with the Swift Boat veterans.
But in a May 2004 article, "Bush's secret stash," which featured GOP 527 groups, The Washington Monthly wrote, "The former political director of one of those committees, Chris LaCivita, is now executive director of Progress for America. The group's Web site used to describe its purpose as 'supporting President George Walker Bush's agenda for America,' but that slogan, apparently too brazen to pass legal muster, has since been changed; now PFA supports 'a conservative issue agenda that will benefit all Americans.'" source
The industry-funded lobbying group USANext "says it plans to spend as much as $10 million on commercials and other tactics assailing AARP, the powerhouse lobby opposing [Social Security] private investment accounts." To oversee the campaign, USANext hired Chris LaCivita, recently of the 527 group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. USANext is also looking to other Swift Vets advisers, having hired Creative Response Concepts and hoping to hire Rick Reed of the Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm firm...source
NRSC Political Director Chris LaCivita was simultaneously employed as a consultant by Jill Holtzman, a candidate for the Republican nomination for Virginia Senate. So Holtzman pays LaCivita $3,000 for consulting fees, and LaCivita approves a $5,000 donation to Holtzman. Now, Holtzman has announced that she's returning the contribution.
As we noted yesterday, Holtzman's husband, Alexander Vogel, is at the NRSC as General Council, so I can see how any intelligent reporter would draw the lines. LaCivita maintains that everything was above board -- "These two things are not related, trust me" -- but the appearance of impropriety is hardly good for the NRSC. --source
OpenSecrets.org Ken Adelman, chairman (former director of arms control and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Reagan) Tony Feather, founder (political director, Bush-Cheney '00, and a close ally of Karl Rove) Ben Ginsberg, chief counsel (chief outside counsel for Bush-Cheney '04) Chris LaCivita, executive director (former issue-advocacy director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee)
Donors:
Sig Rogich, one of President Bush's fundraising Pioneers and former ambassador to Iceland under President Reagan Bush "Rangers" Alex Spanos and Dawn Arnall contributed $5 million each source