Democratic congressional candidate Ed Fallon is accusing his June primary opponent of improperly using the congressional perk that pays to send newsletters to constituents. Fallon says Congressman Leonard Boswell’s congressional newsletter looks like a slick campaign mailing.
"You’ve got two, blue-eyed, smiling girls hugging a globe. You’ve got a nice picture of Leonard Boswell. You’ve got a few big headlines and not much content," Fallon says. "And then I looked down at the bottom and I realized ‘this mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense.’ That to me is outrageous."
Fallon says Boswell seems to be presenting himself as an environmentalist in the mailing. "He’s masking what is really a very, very awful record on the environment and on energy by trying to make it look like somehow he has become a leader in that area," Fallon says. Fallon points to the newsletter’s mention of Boswell’s vote to require the fuel efficiency of American-made vehicles reach at least 35 miles to the gallon by 2020.
"That’s great but my question is why are you just jumping on board this now that you have an opponent because not too many years ago Boswell voted against a 27.5 miles per gallon requirement," Fallon says. "To me, it’s not really a conversion. It’s just kind of an election-year posturing." Fallon also accuses Boswell of backing the coal industry.
"Ed Fallon took a salary from campaign contributions from his last campaign," according to Mark Daley of the Boswell campaign, a reference to Fallon’s unsuccessful bid to become Iowa’s governor back in 2006. Daley says Fallon has no room to criticize Boswell’s mailing, which was "approved by the House Ethics Committee," according to Daley.
Boswell and Fallon are both from Des Moines. Fallon is challenging the incumbent Boswell in the June primary.