Sam Fox, President Bush’s controversial recess appointment as ambassador to Belgium, is vowing to continue donating to political candidates during his time in Brussels while forgoing contributions to 527s, the campaign vehicle that sparked the recent political firestorm that derailed his Senate confirmation.

The decision to remain involved in the 2008 campaign on any level could prove contentious for Fox, given the tradition that ambassadors leave politics at the water’s edge, and could further inflame the debate over his selection. Senate Democrats, furious over the Missouri mogul’s 2004 donation to the GOP-allied group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, have vowed to fight Bush’s decision to appoint Fox as ambassador during Congress’s spring recess. The appointment came after Bush’s earlier withdrawal of Fox’s nomination in the face of certain defeat.

Given the stakes, Fox’s vow to continue his campaign-giving — the activity that landed him in hot water — might seem risky. But for those who know him best, it is hard not to bet that Fox, 77, ultimately will prevail. First, there is the matter of his seeming constitutional predisposition for success: Raised by poor immigrant Jews in rural Missouri during the Depression, Fox has, by his own estimation, “lived the American dream.” He can point to financial assets reportedly in excess of $500 million, accolades as a major philanthropist in his hometown of St. Louis and beyond, a place in the country’s innermost Republican circle and a joyful 53-year marriage that has brought five children and 14 grandchildren...

...At Fox’s February confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, his parade of supporters included both Missouri senators, Republican Christopher “Kit” Bond and Democrat Claire McCaskill, as well as Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Now famously an independent, Lieberman quipped that his backing gave Fox “tri-partisan” support.

The hearing’s fireworks were supplied by Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who excoriated Fox for his 2004 support of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The organization — one of the so-called 527 groups that operates independently of political parties and candidates — is now infamous for its damaging television advertisements alleging that Kerry, then a presidential candidate, had exaggerated claims about his military service during the Vietnam War.

At his Senate hearing, Fox called Kerry a “hero” and insisted that he was and always had been opposed to 527 groups, which he characterized as “mean and destructive.” But he did not dwell on the apparent contradiction between such sentiments and his 2004 contribution. When Kerry asked him who had requested the Swift Boat donation, Fox said he could not remember. He has flatly refused to apologize.

“It was a matter of politics,” Fox told the Forward. “What I did was absolutely in accordance with the law, and in accordance with the way politics are in America. I did nothing wrong and nobody ever said I did, and therefore I have nothing to apologize for.”...