Major Kerry Asset Could Become Liability

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Teresa Heinz Kerry remains open to the possibility of using some of her $500 million to support her husband's presidential campaign, but Democratic and Republican legal experts say her options may be limited.

Her wealth could significantly help Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) narrow the fundraising gap with President Bush, assuming Kerry secures the Democratic nomination. But it also could invite accusations that his campaign bent the spirit, if not the letter, of campaign finance reforms that Kerry supported, sources said. "Teresa has First Amendment rights to speak on issues just like anyone else, and she reserves her right to do that," Jeffrey R. Lewis, her chief of staff, said in an interview. "However, how and when and if she chooses to do that depends on future events and on the advice of her counsel."

"All she has said is that in the event she is attacked, the family is attacked, and it is an issue of family honor, she would defend herself and she would defend her family," another Heinz aide said.

<snip>

Teresa Heinz Kerry can explore two possibilities: financing "independent" ads and other political activities benefiting her husband's presidential bid, or contributing to some of the pro-Democratic independent groups planning to spend millions of dollars to defeat Bush. Both options, however, face significant legal obstacles, according to Democratic, GOP and independent lawyers, none of whom would speak on the record about a hypothetical case involving the Kerry campaign.

<snip>

Republican and Democratic campaign finance experts generally agree that if Teresa Heinz Kerry tests the law and either spends independently or gives money to Democratic groups, it would generate publicity, mostly adverse. A GOP lawyer said his party is fully prepared to turn her into "a poster child test case of the McCain-Feingold law," noting that Kerry supported the campaign finance legislation enacted in 2002.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60619-2004Feb21.html