A political operative has sued presidential campaign adviser David Axelrod over Axelrod 's claim that he came up with the attack strategy that saved an embattled Philadelphia mayor in 2003 . Philadelphia campaign consultant Frank Keel said it was his idea to blame Republicans for an FBI listening device found in Democratic Mayor John Street 's office . Keel considers the decision to attack then-President George W. Bush 's Republican administration ' a defining moment ' of his career , according to his lawsuit . 'His brazen and successful handling of the crisis launched Keel to the forefront of his profession , ' said the legal filing , filed earlier this week and first reported on by The Philadelphia Inquirer . In his book 'Believer : My Forty Years in Politics , ' Axelrod takes credit for the plan to accuse President George W. Bush 's Justice Department of trying to sink Street 's re-election bid . David Axelrod , Obama 's senior campaign strategist in 2012 , is under fire on at least two fronts for claims he made in his new political memoir . WHOSE IDEA WAS IT ? Philadelphia Mayor John Street ( right ) swept to a re-election victory in 2003 after his campaign aides hatched a plot to blame Republicans for alistening device the FBI planted in his office . The FBI bugged Street 's office as part of a 'pay-to-play ' probe that led to the indictments of a city treasurer , a top Street fundraiser and 10 others . The mayor himself was never charged and denied wrongdoing . Street had initially been quiet about the bug found in his City Hall office but went on the attack as the campaign claimed that Republicans did it . Weeks later , he won re-election in a landslide . Axelrod , in a statement , said his book does not rule out the possibility that other advisers 'arrived at the same conclusion or proceeded on parallel tracks . ' But the lawsuit claims Axelrod was unreachable on the day Keel came up with the strategy – and later opposed it . Shawn Fordham , Mayor Street 's 2003 campaign manager , submitted a statement with the suit saying that Axelrod eventually 'got on board ' and called Keel a 'hero . ' Keel also sued Penguin Random House , Axelrod 's publisher . It dismissed Keel 's claims as 'utterly absurd . ' Axelrod served as President Barack Obama 's chief campaign strategist in 2008 and 2012 . Now the founding director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago , Axelrod cut his political teeth at age 27 as a city hall correspondent and columnist at the Chicago Tribune . Three years later he jumped to politics with a communications director job for sitting U.S . Senator Paul Simon . Mitt Romney 's personal assistant Garrett Jackson ( right ) saw and heard everything the GOP candidate said and did during the last presidential race , and he said Axelrod lied about the 2012 Election Night concession call to make the Republican look like a race-obsessed sore loser . In addition to the Street campaign , Axelrod later managed the re-election campaign of Harold Washington , Chicago 's first black mayor , He later worked for then-Senator John Edwards ' 2004 presidential campaign and latched on to Obama 's 2008 effort . Ultimately he became one of the president 's most senior advisers before departing the White House in 2011 . His career has also included political consulting for liberal candidates in Canada and Italy . 'Believer : My Forty Years in Politics ' came out in mid-February and has already brought complaints from two people who say Axelrod lied in the memoir . This year he 's consulting with Britain 's Labour Party in advance of May 7 elections . Labour has said Axelrod is being paid a 'six-figure salary ' for his advice , and that he is working with Douglas Alexander , Labour ’ s shadow foreign secretary – largely via telephone conference calls . The Street case is the second claim that he lied in his memoir . The personal aide of one-time Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney blasted him last month for writing that Romney had claimed President Barack Obama 's 2012 election victory was the product of an aggressive get-out-the-vote operation tageting blacks . Garrett Jackson told CBS News that Axelrod told a 'ridiculous ... lie ' about a phone call between Obama and Romney on Election Night . The Republican nominee , according to Axelrod 's account , angered Obama when he called to concede the race – saying , 'You really did a great job of getting the vote out in places like Cleveland and Milwaukee . ' That 's how Obama remembers it , Axelrod wrote . 'In other words , black people , ' his book records the president as saying , 'That 's what he ( Romney ) thinks this was all about . ' Garrett claimed he was in the room listening to Romney 's end of the conversation , and it never happened . Separately , Axelrod made news in February with a speech at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics by claiming that the Obama presidency has seen 'six years in which there hasn ’ t been a major scandal . ' That claim drew a mix of applause and laughter from his audience .
Axelrod took credit in his memoir for a plan blaming GOP dirty-tricksters for a listening device the FBI planted in a Philadelphia mayor 's office as part of a criminal probe . But another Democratic operative claims it was all his idea – and Axelrod thought it was a bad one . It 's the second time the Obama confidant 's book has been branded dishonest . A Mitt Romney aide said last month that Axelrod lied when he wrote that the Republican candidate suggested on Election Night that Obama only won because his outreach targeted black voters . Axelrod has a long career in Democratic politics and landed a six-figure consulting contract with Britain 's Labour Party during this year 's elections .