Leonard Boswell's 527

When Republican Jeff Lamberti challenged Congressman Leonard Boswell two years ago, Boswell found himself on the receiving end of attack ads from a Republican “527”, one of those shadowy groups that can raise unlimited money without dislcosing the identities of their contributors. The phenomenon has taken its nickname of “swiftboating” from the 527 attack ads made by Vietnam swift boat veterans against John Kerry in his 2004 race for the White House.

This year's Democratic Congressional primary in Iowa's Third District has seen its share of negative campaigning. While the Fallon campaign tried to keep the focus on issues and only went after Boswell’s voting record, the Boswell campaign has rarely missed the chance to attack Fallon personally. But in a reversal of the 2006 Congressional contest, Boswell now has a 527 group in his corner – “Independent Voices”, chaired by Boswell supporter Richard A. “Red” Brannan of Ankeny – doing its best to swiftboat Ed Fallon. No return address or other information about the group appears on its mailers.

A week before the primary, Independent Voices sent three mailers attacking Fallon. One was on ethanol, claiming Fallon was against ethanol subsidies, but offering no vote or statement by Fallon to back up the claim. The other two were much more pernicious, attacking Fallon for his lone vote against the 2002 bill prohibiting sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or daycare. Both were repeats of criticisms made by Boswell earlier in the campaign.

Ironically, the first of the sex offender mailer arrived in mailboxes the same day as the endorsement from The Des Moines Register, which cited Fallon’s lone vote against the bill as the right one. The mailer prompted a second Register editorial dedicated to praising Fallon for his vote against the bill, now roundly criticized by prosecutors and police, as well as those who work with victims of sexual abuse. Bleeding Heartland did a good piece on this.

All the mailers gave the telephone number of Fallon’s campaign headquarters and encouraged recipients to phone Fallon to tell him off. But most voters seemed to find the sex offender mailings especially distasteful. Sources in the Fallon campaign confirmed that the calls they received ran heavily in their favor, and included many previously self-identified as undecided or as strongly supporting Boswell who, after receiving the mailers, switched to Fallon.

The Fallon campaign challenged Boswell to reject the support of the 527, but no such repudiation has been forthcoming.

Red Brannan, a developer, was a Polk County supervisor who lost reelection after sneaking the Prairie Meadows development past the public. He is a registered Democrat with a Boswell for Congress sign in his front yard.