Burnt Orange Report

Bush was for the 527's, Before he was against them...

By Byron LaMasters

This is making its rounds among the lefty blogs, so here we go...

Bush in 2000:

The recount fund created by the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign evaded a soft money campaign finance disclosure law for 18 months and did not file required forms until the last day of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) "amnesty" program for out-of-compliance groups, Public Citizen has discovered.

The Bush-Cheney 2000, Inc-Recount Fund, a 527 political group created shortly after the November 2000 election to pay for the legal and political activities in Florida and other contested areas, apparently did not file at least four – and perhaps as many as six – required disclosure forms until 3:25 p.m. on July 15, 2002 – meeting the deadline to avoid millions of dollars in potential fines by less than nine hours.

[...]

Republican National Committee (RNC) official Jim Dyke confirmed to Public Citizen that the recount fund is a 527 group that first filed its statement of organization and contribution and expenditure reports with the IRS just before the amnesty program ended. However, the information has not yet appeared on the IRS Web site, and the IRS has not confirmed to Public Citizen that that the Bush-Cheney recount fund’s contribution and expenditure forms have been filed. IRS spokesman Tim Harms told Public Citizen that if the group submitted its forms by July 15, as the recount fund claims, it would be "in compliance" and would not be subject to fines.

Bush in 2004:

President Bush, speaking at his ranch in Crawford, Texas on Monday, denounced all ads run by 527 groups, including the ads run by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which attack Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's military record, saying "this kind of unregulated soft money is wrong for the process."

"I'm denouncing ... all the stuff being on TV, all the 527s. That's what I said," Bush said. He also called on Kerry to join him in "getting rid of all that soft money, not only on TV, but used for other purposes as well."

Did anyone say flip flop?

Hat tip to Pandagon, Atrios and Kos diaries.