Iowa Republican Party chairman Chuck Larson says a man who used to work for
Tom Harkin is responsible for taping a private fundraising pitch made by
G-O-P Senate candidate Greg Ganske. Larson says a “mole” was sent into the room to tape the entire campaign and it was taken promptly back to Senator Harkin. Larson says they received “nothing but lies and denials” from the Harkin campaign, and he says “they only tell the truth when they’re forced to.” Larson won’t name the person, who just yesterday hired a lawyer and issued a statement through that attorney describing himself as a disillusioned Ganske donor but refusing to reveal his name. Larson says his review of the list of people in the Ganske meeting uncovered a single name that stuck out like a sore thumb. He says the information has been turned over the U-S Attorney’s office. Larson says the man’s story doesn’t ring true. Larson says the individual once worked for Senator Harkin and
is a “family friend.” Larson says the Harkin campaign’s fingerprints are all over the episode, as Larson says the recorder used to tape the Ganske meeting was given to the man by the Harkin campaign.
Larson says the individual is a “family friend” of Harkin’s who wrote a ‘letter to the editor’ in the Des Moines Register attacking Ganske and praising Harkin. The man, identified in the paper and by Radio Iowa sources as Brian Conley of Des Moines, made a 50-dollar donation to the Ganske campaign this summer. Larson says the move got him into the meeting, where he acted like a “mole or a spy.”
Conley, a Des Moines businessman, was a registered Democrat until this past June, when he changed his party affiliation to Republican for a few weeks before switching it back. The Harkin campaign issued a statement last night, disclosing that the staff person who handed the transcript to a newspaper reporter last week has resigned. David Wiggins, legal counsel for the campaign, described Conley’s conduct as “unacceptable to Senator Harkin.” Wiggins said his investigation is hampered, though, because Conley’s hired a lawyer who won’t let him talk. Wiggins maintained the Ganske meeting was neither private nor confidential and no crime was committed.
Larson’s calling on Senator
Harkin and his campaign manager to come clean.
Sources tell Radio Iowa the man’s name is Brian Conley, a 50-something
businessman from Des Moines. Senator Harkin first delayed, and then cancelled his weekly conference call with reporters today without explanation.
