A Look at Boswell's Campaign Contributions

Ed Fallon has always campaigned for campaign finance reform. A key element has always been his refusal to accept contributions from political action committees (PACs) and paid lobbyists.

When Congressman Boswell was interviewed on Iowa Press (02/29/08), he was asked about being a “corporate Democrat.” He said that he is not, adding, “. . . would you want to deny nurses from contributing to their associations so they could have a little bit of a say? Would you want to deny teachers?  Would you want to deny farmers?  Would you want to deny anybody, labor workers, who want to do something like that?  And so if it's legal and it gives them a chance to have a voice by participating in a small amount as an individual I think it’s all right. They do it legally and that's the way I look at it.”

In an article published March 14, 2008 in The Knoxville Journal-Express, Boswell campaign manager Scott Ourth claimed not to know the percentage of Boswell’s funding that comes from PACs. But he went on to make an incredible claim: 

Ourth said he does not know this percentage, but most of Boswell’s funding comes from small donations from everyday Iowans. He added that if groups of teachers, nurses, etc., want to pool their money to make donations, it is their right.

First, it strains one’s credulity to think that a campaign manager doesn’t know the details of contributions to the campaign he is managing, particularly since these details must be reported to the Federal Election Commission and are easily available to the public via the FEC website. The fact that roughly three-fourths of Congressman Boswell’s campaign contributions come from PACs was the subject of an article by Jane Norman in The Des Moines Register on February 10, 2008.

According to the FEC website, Congressman Boswell’s contributions for this campaign through December 31, 2007 total $722,327. Of that amount, $534,570 or 74% came from 322 PAC contributions. Only 20 of the 322 PAC contributions come from Iowa. The other 302 (96%) are from outside of Iowa. Very little of that money comes from “teachers and nurses.”

The Boswell campaign received $184,899 from 164 individual contributors (just under 26% of total contributions).  Another $459 came from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in addition to its PAC contributions.

By way of contrast, Ed Fallon’s campaign for Congress has, in the three months it has been in operation, received about $150,000 from approximately 1,700 donors.

The Boswell campaign has tried to misdirect public attention from the source of its financing. When Fallon received the endorsement of Democracy for America (DFA), the Boswell campaign falsely claimed that Ed was taking money from DFA, which is a PAC. While DFA normally gives contributions to candidates it endorses, the DFA made it clear that no money was given to the Fallon campaign because they know Fallon doesn’t take money from PACs. They did recommend to their members that they make individual contributions through the ActBlue website. After the false charges by the Boswell campaign, DFA sent another fund-raising email for Ed.

Ed just received the endorsement of the Stop the Arms Race Political Action Committee (STARPAC), but again, they have not offered a contribution to the campaign, as they know Ed wouldn’t take it.