Republicans deny exploiting Sept. 11 to boost fund-raising

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The White House fended off criticism Tuesday that Republicans exploited the terrorist attacks by using a White House photo of President Bush in action on Sept. 11 to attract fresh donations for GOP congressional candidates.

Press secretary Ari Fleischer said the White House was consulted before the fund-raising solicitation and was not concerned about the use of photos showing “the president doing his job for the American people.”

Bush sidestepped a question about the controversy before heading to a black-tie gala Tuesday night that raised a record $33 million for the Republican National Committee.

The photo, taken by a White House photographer, shows Bush calling Vice President Cheney aboard Air Force One just hours after the suicide hijackers struck New York and Washington.

It was promised in a fund-raising solicitation, first reported by The Associated Press, as part of a three-picture set for donors who gave at least $150 for a fund-raising dinner next month for GOP congressional candidates.

“That the Republican Party sees no problem with this profit-from-pain scheme says a lot about the moral state of the party,” said Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose Manhattan district included the World Trade Center.

Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe called the solicitation “nothing short of grotesque” and said he hoped “even the most cynical partisan operative would have cowered at the notion of exploiting the Sept. 11 tragedy.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee and its GOP Senate fund-raising counterpart defended use of the photos.

“The photographs that were used by the Republicans are celebratory, they are historic, they are something we should be proud about, the courage put forth by this president,” said Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who leads the Republican fund-raising effort for Senate candidates.

Fleischer said Bush saw no problem with the photos, which also included a picture of the president at his 2002 State of the Union address and another from his inauguration last year.

“The party committees are free, if they decide, to use pictures of the president doing his job for the American people,” Fleischer said.