Hold Rep. Leonard Boswell Accountable
Our mission is to educate and inform the citizens of Iowa, District 3 concerning the swiftboating tactics that Representative Leonard Boswell employed during the 2008 primary against his Democratic opponent. We ask that you join us in holding Rep. Boswell accountable for his unethical standards by signing our petition.
We the undersigned ask that you denounce the use of swiftboating techniques by Democratic candidates in the primary and general elections. We feel that they bring dishonor to the party and do not serve its function to represent the people honorably. The purpose of a candidacy should be to serve the people. One of the purposes of the party is to educate the electorate. By providing disinformation about an opponent, the candidate brings shame on himself and the party. If a 527 is using swiftboating tactics against an opponent, we call on the Democratic candidate to denounce the ad and to bring out the truth, as they know it. We believe in the long run this serves the people more than winning by any means. Swiftboating includes any distortion of the truth about an opponent.
In the recent Democratic primary for Congressional District 3, incumbent Rep. Leonard Boswell did employ such techniques himself in ads about challenger Ed Fallon by distorting the truth about his support for Nader and accusing him of not being a good Democrat. He failed to acknowledge the fact that Mr. Fallon had apologized about the action 8 years ago and was currently supporting a Democratic nominee for president. Furthermore, when the 527, Independent Voices, stated that Mr. Fallon was not against having child molesters near schools, Mr. Boswell did not denounce the ad as a distortion of the truth. He rather refused comment. The ads from the 527 and the ads from the campaign for Boswell were of the same quality and appearance. They appeared late in the campaign so to minimize the ability to refute them and in short appeared to be a coordinated effort. In view of these despicable tactics, we ask the Democratic Party of the State of Iowa to denounce Rep. Boswell for his use of them in the primary against a fellow Democrat.
The undersigned do hereby ask the State Democratic Party to set up the use of swiftboating techniques as a party infraction and denounce those who use them.
Thank you for taking the time to hear our concerns.
