Republicans try to win Boswell to their side

Republicans in the U-S House have attempted to “convert” Iowa’s lone democratic congressman. Republicans offered democrat Congressman Leonard Boswell a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee if he would switch parties. Boswell is from Davis City in southwest Iowa and he’s been a long-time democrat, but a conservative one. One of Boswell’s first acts as a state legislator was to oppose an increase in the gas tax that most of his democrat colleagues voted for — and as a Congressman, Boswell has voted in favor of a ban on partial birth abortions. Boswell’s chief of staff says Boswell “never seriously considered” the republican’s offer. Boswell campaigned alongside democrat Al Gore in last year’s presidential election and backed U.S. House Democrat Leader Dick Gephardt when Gephardt ran for President in 1988. Boswell was approached by a republican Congressman last Thursday and offered the seat on Appropriations. Boswell was promised a slot on the committee by House Leader Gephardt, but it never materialized.