http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070904/ap_po/california_votes;_ylt=AnB4wZ6kOmrfQu0ks1rKNA.s0NUEBy MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer
Tue Sep 4, 9:35 AM ET
LOS ANGELES - Lawyers behind a California ballot proposal that could benefit the 2008 Republican presidential nominee have ties to a Texas homebuilder who financed attacks on Democrat John Kerry's Vietnam War record in the 2004 presidential campaign.
Charles H. Bell and Thomas Hiltachk's law firm banked nearly $65,000 in fees from a California-based political committee funded almost solely by Bob J. Perry that targeted Democrats in 2006. Perry, a major Republican donor, contributed nearly $4.5 million to the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that made unsubstantiated but damaging attacks on Kerry three years ago.